Stop Pretending: What Happened When my Big Sister Went Crazy by Sonya Sones

When my owner first told me we would be reviewing a novel written in verse, I pictured a lot of flowery language and a barely-held-together plot. How could poetry carry a storyline?! Stop Pretending: What Happened When my Big Sister Went Crazy by Sonya Sones was my first novel in verse, and I must say, it was nothing like what I expected. Winner of almost a dozen literary awards, including the ALA Best Book for Young Adults award and the ALA Popular Paperback for Young Adults award, Sones' poetry is both poignant and heartfelt. Stop Pretending is based on the author's own experiences as a 13-year-old when her older sister had a mental breakdown.

Sones constructed this book in such a masterful way that each poem felt like a mini-chapter, with its own main idea that fits within the story as a whole. The book follows the main character's emotional journey, from the initial shock of having her sister hospitalized, to the loneliness and heartache of missing her, to the comfort of coming to terms with her family's new normal. The character's turning point comes when a school counselor suggests she smile at people more (not in a "you're pretty when you smile" chauvinistic way, but in a "when you feel sad, fake it 'til you make it" therapeutic way), and she makes a new friend. Around the same time, the author slowly weaves in more poetry about the main character's own life - her new friend, the boy she likes, and time with family - and begins to back off the heartwrenching poems about the anger and hurt and embarrassment she feels. While those feelings are still there, they no longer play a central role in her inner monologue. This is a beautiful way to bring closure to the story while also sending a message to the reader: those feelings of guilt and sadness do not just suddenly go away, but they do lose intensity and occupy less space in one's emotional world as healing begins.

What makes this poetry work so well as a novel is how very raw and honest Sones' language is. She doesn't back away from difficult feelings of bitterness, fear, and guilt. Rather, she allows these feelings to spill out across the page, no matter how raw they are. Furthermore, she doesn't try to dress up her emotions in flowery language or make them bend to fit a rhyme scheme; Sones' use of free verse allows her strong word choice and raw emotion to stand on their own. Kirkus Review (2010) praises the novel for how her use of poetry "fits the story remarkably well, spotlighting the musings of the 13-year-old narrator, and pinpointing the emotions powerfully." Most of her poems are comprised of multiple short stanzas, each rarely more than five or six lines. This similarity of form helps bind the poems into a seamless whole. She creates tension in short, quick lines, reminiscent of someone breathing fast or hyperventilating: "I don't / know what / to say" (Sones 1999, 12). She creates longing through her reminiscences of happy times with her sister, which stand in sharp contrast to the stranger her sister has become. Throughout the story, the main character refers to her sister simply as Sister - we do not learn her name. Perhaps this is to remind the reader that mental illness isn't a distant disease that only happens to people in stories, but a real issue that touches real people - like your own sister, mother, or brother.

This novel is particularly well suited to high school age students. Because of the very serious subject matter, this novel in verse may be best for older audiences, as younger students may not be prepared to process the emotions and concerns the book may bring up. However, I always want to caution that each child and each family is different, and there are certainly some younger students who are already dealing with bipolar disorder or mental hospitalization and would greatly benefit from reading this book.

I particularly enjoyed reading the author's note at the end in which Sonya Sones explains that the novel is based on a true story: her own. I wish I had known this before reading the book; knowing this is REALLY what it is like to deal with a mentally ill sister, not just an artist's interpretation, might have led me to read or interpret the book differently. Perhaps placing a note to the reader as a preface to the book would have more of an impact on the audience. Books that deal with mental illness - and also treat it as a clinical disease and not characters being "crazy" - are very important for teenagers to have exposure to.

This book is a natural springboard for discussion about mental illness and how it affects young people as well as their families. School Library Journal praises it as “an unpretentious, accessible book that could provide entry points for a discussion about mental illness-its stigma, its realities, and its affect on family members” (Korbeck 1999, 160). Because the subject matter is so heavy, this book might be more effective if introduced later in the schoolyear once a sense of safety and trust is firmly established in the classroom. Class discussions are often more meaningful and in-depth when students are more comfortable opening up.

A good companion book to Stop Pretending might be Impulse by Ellen Hopkins, another novel in verse dealing with mental illness. Impulse follows three patients in a psychiatric hospital for teenagers and deals with suicide and attempted suicide. It is important that teachers not shy away from such heavy material simply because they are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the conversations that might arise; rather, we owe it to our youth to let them know they are not alone and that there are many ways to get help for yourself or a loved one struggling with mental illness. Seeing mental illness in literature, especially when it is handled like a clinical disease and not the fault of the afflicted, is an important way that we can help reduce the stigma that surrounds mental illness, which will make it easier for those who are suffering to get help.

All in all, Stop Pretending is a carefully crafted novel in verse, filled with emotions both raw and touching, which left me with a deep and abiding sense of hope. Two paws up!

Wags and Woofs,

Charlie Brown

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References

Kirkus Review. 2010. “Stop Pretending: What Happened When my Big Sister Went Crazy.” Kirkus Reviews, posted May 20, 2010 https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/sonya-sones/stop-pretending/.

Korbeck, Sharon. 1999. “Stop Pretending.” School Library Journal 45, no. 10: 160.

Sones, Sonya. 1999. Stop Pretending: What Happened When my Big Sister Went Crazy. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN: 9780060283865