I recently finished a book called My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga. It is the story of a girl and a boy who meet on a website and agree to a ‘Suicide Pact’. They both have reasons as to why they want to die, and both hope the other won’t back out, but eventually, things (aka feelings) get in the way and things start to turn a little upside down.
The storyline is enticing as any other. Two people meet and agree to die, and I just found it fascinating. The plot intertwines smoothly and never misses a beat. The characters are everything you expect them not to be. They are funny and loveable and quirky and have their hobbies and love things, and yet they are sad. They are so very sad. He is sad, and she is sad, and they find happiness in each other.
Your love for the characters grows immaculately as their love for each other grows. And who doesn’t love a book where you see that the characters are running out of time since an important date is looming above them and there are only so many book pages left? Every second you read the novel, every word, phrase, line, sentence, however you may wish to put it, is thrilling and precious and anything but boring. The characters have a way of pulling you in, and making you care for them and their outcome. Everything about the novel is amazing.
Even in the back of the book, hidden just after the author’s notes, there are a list of numbers and websites to visit if you find yourself ever in the need of help. I, personally, absolutely adore books like these. They really help set the world on a kinder path. You are not alone, and there is someone out there who can help you.
This is the kind of book that makes you cry, and also feel warm and see the world in a different way. This is a story that makes you want to go out, and find an old park you used to play in and sit in there and revel in the nostalgia. It is the kind of story that makes you want to love your loved ones more than you already do. It is the kind of book that makes you say “The best one.” when someone asks what book you are reading.
My favourite character in this novel would have to be a tie between a few. Our two main characters, Aysel and Roman, Aysel’s half-sister, Georgia, and Roman’s mother, Mrs. Franklin. Aysel (pronounced Uh-zell, which, I admit, I had some trouble remembering.) is one of my favourites because she is very witty for someone who wants to be gone. Her words are sharp with a favoured sweetness, and she has her very-book-character hobbies. She hums classical music whenever she feels uncomfortable, or, whenever she feels like this.
Roman is another favourite because I am biased. I have a character in my own story (which has a very big “Work in Progress” sign written on it.) called Roman, so I was sure, no matter what this character would be like, that I would enjoy his appearance. He grew on me in a way I didn’t expect him to, though, too. He is nice. Actually nice. Not a lot of people are nice in the same way as he is, so it was lovely to read and experience. He is very focused on his goal, death, in a way that doesn’t allow any nonsense to be in play. He is a lover of basketball and sea life. Aysel’s half-sister, Georgia, is another favourite because she tries. She tries very hard. Aysel is older than her by a few years, and acts terribly guarded and snappy towards Georgia, who just wants to connect with her half-sister. It’s kind of sad to witness, but I see it as something that can many may relate to.
Roman’s mother, Mrs. Franklin is the epitome of a gigantic sweetheart. She’s very loving, thoughtful and caring towards both Roman and Aysel, and is a very supportive mother. She’s almost a predictable mother, who gardens and tries her best to cook certain foods for Aysel, (because Aysel is Turkish, she makes traditional Turkish dishes for her, only a little while after they met.) and does all the everyday things, but she is lovely. She is the definition of lovely.
I really enjoyed the book. I laughed and cried and searched for some new music while I read it. (With Aysel’s classical music love, it was hard to resist searching some of them up.) It was beautifully tragic and achingly bittersweet. I love every word of it.