Review: This Song Will Save Your Life

Author: Leila Sales
Date of Publication: September 17 2013
Pages: 288
Source: Giveaway!

Making friends has never been Elise Dembowski’s strong suit. All throughout her life, she’s been the butt of every joke and the outsider in every conversation. When a final attempt at popularity fails, Elise nearly gives up. Then she stumbles upon a warehouse party where she meets Vicky, a girl in a band who accepts her; Char, a cute, yet mysterious disc jockey; Pippa, a carefree spirit from England; and most importantly, a love for DJing.

Review:

It was probably one of the most hyped of books of the year so I was dying to get my hands on it. After having read it, it wasn't what I was expecting in some ways and surprised me in others.

First, this book did not change my life. I didn't cry or get teary, but there were times when I was horrified. As much as I related to Elise, I think our issues are very different.

Elise is tired of being on the outside. She's not popular and she has trouble even making friends. She is bullied on account of being so different and in general, she has a hard time connecting to people. She needs that though. Elise desperately needs someone to see her and to kind of find her place. She wants friends.

I would normally be extremely weary of a book about popularity and bullying and that's because I don't like people who victimize themselves. It's human nature I suppose, but I do believe that a big part of anti-bullying strategies has to be empowering people to realize their own worth and never have it be taken away from them. I was happy to see that Elise knows who she is and fights back in her own way. What people says hurts her, but she tries to minimize it.

What makes This Song Will Save Your Life such a great book is that it is to easy to connect to. It often had me thinking about my own life and my own choices. Elise is brilliant in ways that people can't see and don't initially realize. When she does something, she throws everything into it. She's always doing more and extra, and somewhere along the way Elise has decided that is what is wrong with her- her otherness. So, she tries to hold herself back and be like other people, or at least what other people outwardly show.

Elise's character is rational and I adored her. She changes and truly grows and I'm proud of her. The other characters in the story are good too. They all have their issues, from Vicky to Char, but seeing all the different layers to them was pretty special. I enjoyed learning about them.

The DJing aspect was super cool. It's something that I was always interested in and that wasn't in YA so it was a very original flair to the story. Although I don't have the same taste in music as Elise, I loved her love of music.

The strongest part to This Song Will Save Your Life is the message. It can be interpreted in many ways because there are a lot of topics touched on like suicide and bullying, but the message that I took to heart is never to hold yourself back. It's an inspiring message and one that I think matters a lot.

When I was writing this review, I constantly had to keep deleting paragraphs I wrote because I would leave the topic of the story and focus on personal stuff that had nothing to do with the book. That's because This Song Will Save Your Life is an introspective book, the type that makes me look at my life. Everyone needs to read books like this.


-P.E.


10 comments:

  1. I've heard so many good things about this, I don't know why I'm still hesitant to picking it up!

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    1. It does have a lot of hype, but I think it's a good book. I hope you do enjoy if you pick it up.

      -P.E.

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  2. Re: your last paragraph - Very cool. We like that it's a more thoughtful, quiet kind of book, because we feel like there are already a lot of empty action-based books. (That's fine, there just needs to be a balance!) Definitely on our list to check out. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

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    1. It's definitely more quiet and thoughtful. It's not even a straight up tragedy, it's just a small book that somehow manages to resonate. I read a lot of action based books so this once was a nice break.

      -P.E.

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  3. This book did make me cry. I found it was a fantastic book and yes, it makes you think about your life and your actions towards others too.
    I loved that Elise did a lot of growing up in the book and I love that nothing in this story is quite typical of YA.
    I connected a lot with the music, cause (at the risk of revealing my old age) many of those songs were favourites of mine when I was a teen. Music is therapy, music is food for the soul, and that's the biggest way this book connected with me!

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it! I do have to agree that this book did feel different. And it's cool to see how powerful music can be.

      -P.E.

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  4. I have to say, I didn't find this book as powerful as a lot of others have too. I suppose it's because I personally couldn't really connect with the MC. I definitely still did enjoy it though (it got 5 stars from me) so I guess it goes to show that there were other more engaging aspects for me :)

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    1. I know what you mean. The story is great anyway. I could understand the MC, but she wasn't really the strength for me.

      -P.E.

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  5. This is another one that I've heard amazing things about - I definitely need to get my hands on this book! I love how you said that you had to keep deleting paragraphs about yourself. I think you should write an introspective post based on the book!! :-)

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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    1. I considered that, but at some point it just kind of became too personal. Maybe one day though!

      -P.E.

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