My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Goodreads summary:
When eighteen-year-old Dylan wakes up, she’s in an apartment she doesn’t recognize. The other people there seem to know her, but she doesn’t know them – not even the pretty, chiseled boy who tells her his name is Connor. A voice inside her head keeps saying that everything is okay, but Dylan can’t help but freak out. Especially when she borrows Connor’s phone to call home and realizes she’s been missing for three days.
Dylan has lost time before, but never like this.
Soon after, Dylan is diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, and must grapple not only with the many people currently crammed inside her head, but that a secret from her past so terrible she’s blocked it out has put them there. Her only distraction is a budding new relationship with Connor. But as she gets closer to finding out the truth, Dylan wonders: will it heal her or fracture her further?
My Review:
This book was very well written and hard to put down. The whole time, you are rooting for Dylan and hoping everything works out for her. I don’t know anyone who has been diagnosed with DID so I’m not sure how closely Dylan’s story might resemble another’s, but if any part of it is similar this story could help explain it to those of us without DID. It seems like the author did extensive research and she even mentions having a psychotherapist assisting with some parts.
I found the description of the “system” or Dylan’s “posse” very interesting. The way her brain processed that information and created the different personalities that each had their own responsibilities and would front at specific times when needed is amazing to think about. The things our bodies and minds can do to survive traumatic events is incredible.
The only part of the story that I might see a problem with is the support Dylan received throughout. It seems like it might be a little too good to be true. Granted, there was some pushback from her brother Mark and also from Nisha, the girl on the train, but overall she seemed to have overwhelming support. I would hope that a situation like this could be true, but with human nature and the way people act when they don’t understand things, I’m not sure how someone’s family might react to a DID diagnosis. It would be a lot to take in and could be tough for some to accept.
*** If you read this book, you MUST read the acknowledgments. The author explains some of the research she did and why she wrote the ending this way.
Thank you to Kate McLaughlin for writing an amazing story to share and to St. Martin’s Press and Wednesday Books for allowing me to read an advance copy in exchange for my honest opinions.
SPOILER ALERT
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Not everyone ends up with what seems like an easy road and a happy ending, but for the sake of the book, it made the story easier to tell and I think it does a good job of bringing awareness to DID (which I didn’t know much about until reading this).
