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Chance You Won't Return, The (2014)

by Annie Cardi(Favorite Author)

3.89 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1480595470 (ISBN13: 9781480595477)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Candlewick on Brilliance Audio

review 1: Most unusual premise allows an in-depth and moving portrait of a 16-year-old coping with her delusional mother's illness and all that entails for her family while at the same time trying to maintain an illusion of normalcy at school. Ciardi's contrast of Alex's panic about driving and her mother's Amelia Earhart delusions is quite effective. Alex pulls back from her friends is understandable. Bless her friend for not giving up on her; I'm not sure how many teens would have been so kind. Alex's budding romance is her lifeline--that it's with a boy who doesn't know her family at all allows her to hide the situation from him fairly easily. When she's forced to tell him, he is there for her--almost too good to be true. The depiction of mental illness and it's impact on a ... morefamily is brutally honesy.
review 2: Teen Alex Winchester is floundering her way through high school. She is petrified every time she gets behind the wheel in her driver's education class since she imagines all the mistakes she could make and the lives she might take in an accident. She has a group of supportive friends, but she avoids them because of the secret about her home life that she is keeping. Perhaps in reaction to stress or several disappointing events, Alex's mother becomes convinced that she is Amelia Earhart, the famous aviator. In her delusion she calls her husband George, the name of Earhart's husband, and she charts out various flight patterns. As she dresses and speaks like Earhart, Alex's mother starts to disappear. Oddly, though, Alex finds it easier to talk to this woman who doesn't know her than it is to talk to her own mother. Worried about what others will think about her family, Alex hides the truth from her friends and from Jim Wiley, an older classmate who befriends her and helps her conquer her fears about driving. Even while their romance blossoms, Alex just can't bring herself to tell Jim the truth about her odd behavior and secrecy. I enjoyed this book because of its refreshing honesty and its uniqueness. All of us have secrets that we want to keep from others, and teen readers are certain to be able to relate to Alex's fears as she tries to find normality while nothing around her is normal in the slightest way. less

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