My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga
Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Publication date: February 10th 2015
My rating: 5 stars
My rating: 5 stars
A stunning novel about the transformative power of love, perfect for fans of Jay Asher and Laurie Halse Anderson.
Sixteen-year-old physics nerd Aysel is obsessed with plotting her own death. With a mother who can barely look at her without wincing, classmates who whisper behind her back, and a father whose violent crime rocked her small town, Aysel is ready to turn her potential energy into nothingness.
There's only one problem: she's not sure she has the courage to do it alone. But once she discovers a website with a section called Suicide Partners, Aysel's convinced she's found her solution--Roman, a teenage boy who's haunted by a family tragedy, is looking for a partner. Even though Aysel and Roman have nothing in common, they slowly start to fill in each other's broken lives. But as their suicide pact becomes more concrete, Aysel begins to question whether she really wants to go through with it. Ultimately, she must choose between wanting to die or trying to convince Roman to live so they can discover the potential of their energy together.
Behold! The diversity in young-adult fiction!
My Heart and Other Black Holes is perfect with its depressed, lonely characters. Aysel, a girl who's father killed the town's next big thing, wants to die. Everyone stays away from her in school, she doesn't have any friends and her family doesn't think of her as their member. She finds an add on the website for suicidal people, where another teenager(Roman) is looking for a suicide partner. Together the form a pact by killing themselves.
Aysel was such a likable main character. Dealing with the destruction of her father's actions, she distanced herself from everyone. She finds comfort in her room, doing her physics homework. She's fascinated about Einstein's theory of relativity and connects it with everything happening in her life. Things start to change once she meets Roman.
Roman's still dealing with the death of his kid sister. He blames himself and doesn't think there's anything worth living for. He's an excellent basketball player with a scholarship on the way. Most of the time, he's trying not to find Aysel not amusing which I thought was really cute.
Both, Aysel and Roman are a perfect pair. They connected and understood each other right from the start and I loved seeing their strange relationship develop. Roman brought Aysel's long forgotten, fun side and she made him see the beauty in life. I really enjoyed their interaction. Their dialog was fresh and entertaining. It felt real which was the most important thing.
I have no objections about the writing or the pacing. Everything felt just right, without rushing. Only there was this small thing. I kind of wished we got to see Aysel's father towards the end. I was a little bit disappointed he didn't made an appearance.
I'm glad the cover was changed. This one is so much better.
If you're looking for a touching story about two lost souls, you've found it! Contemporary buffs should not miss My Heart and Other Black Holes.
