couldnt put this book down, Its an important read and one that needs to be put in every teenagers hands, The ending felt a little rushed, but I still loved the book, Excellent read!
Full review to come : Inspiring, . . that's how I will sum up this book, In a world where normal is overrated and 'special' is a synonym for not normal, this book is something everyone must read before they die,
I have always genuinely wondered how people with mental illness lived, This book answered that question, This book gave me a chance to be and feel what ayr old with tourettes, ocd and anxiety feels and goes through every minute of his existence, I felt his pain, helplessness, sadness, and anxiety, But I also felt his happiness, and the power and hope in a few beautiful moments,
I come across news everyday where people, even kids, kills themselves for even really really stupid reasons, Yes, everyone has problems and it varies from person to person but suicide is never the answer to anything, It has never been and never will be, In this book, the Troy decides to end his life to stop being a burden to his loved ones, He makes a list of ten things he wants to do before he kill himself, But the way he checks each and every one of the list is just purely amazing, The way he makes sure that everything is in perfect order for his loved ones before he leaves forever does not show him as ayr old but rather as a grown up who perfectly plans everything for his family and their future.
For example, he makes sure to find a babysitter for his lil baby brother before he commits suicide and that's the purest form of love ever,
The fact that the author herself has tourettes and was able to accomplish a great many things in her life gives me chills, RESPECT and a heart felt thank you to you ma'am, for all the services you have done for this world and for writing this book, Now, I'm able to see my life from a yet another perspective,
There's no such thing as normal, Everyone's different and unique and every living being deserves to live a happy life no matter what, And ending life is never the answer to anything, I didn't think I was going to be in love with this book like everyone else, but then it got me, . . and got me hard. This important book about living with Tourette Syndrome and OCD is equal parts inspirational and heartrending, Troy has struggled his whole life with the pain and stigma of a disorder that almost no one understands, Hes used to being looked at like hes either crazy or on drugs, And the one person who could have helped him work through the emotional and physical turmoil hes gone throughhis motherabandoned him as a child, Troy doesnt see a light at the end of the tunnel, all he sees is more pain, Because of this, he makes a list of ten things he wants to accomplish before the ten year anniversary of his diagnosis ten is an unfortunately significant number for him and holds a certain power over him due to his OCD.
The tenth item on the list is committing suicide, While on the journey to accomplishing his checklist, Troy starts to find reasons to live, but he cant quite decide if those outweigh the daunting realities in front of him.
It would be nearly impossible to read this book and not sympathize with Troy, Through his eyes, readers will come to understand the complexities of Tourette Syndrome and OCD: how the compulsions relentlessly drive him, how his emotions affect his symptoms, the intense physical pain that goes along with his tics.
I came to care deeply for this boy who just wanted relief from his neverending struggles, And, yes, I shed tears for him when he was suffering from the suffocating truth that he would never be completely free from his burdens, even when many aspects of his life were falling into place beautifully.
Ultimately, this is a story of hope, but its hardwon, There are no easy answers or quick fixes for Troy but, instead, he gains an innate sense of his own selfworth and an understanding of the ultimate value of life.
I highly recommend this book!
Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher for review purposes, and the author shares an agent with me, so weve met.
Still, all opinions are my own and no compensation was given, This is a pretty solid read for those wanting to know the battle that goes on with many neurodivergent people and accepting themselves, While I am a bit over literature only discussing us at our worst, thats a problem with the overall genre and not this book in specific,
If anything, this book stands out from the others that cover similar topics, as the author has Tourettes themselves, and this appears to be a book marginally based on their own experiences.
If you want to read a fiction book about disabled hardship, this is definitely the one to pick up, due to its accuracy not to mention supporting a author in the neurodivergent community.
While I found it a bit slow in some places, and I do wish we got to learn more about Troy as a person I never really felt attached to him as a character, its a good read.
Such a beautiful, necessary book, I finished List of Ten about two months ago, and I havent stopped thinking about it since, I absolutely loved every word of it, especially the main character Troy, He is one of those terrific, believable, threedimensional characters that feel like they are real people, Heartbreaking and heart healing, all at the same timethis was seriously one of the best books Ive read in years, If you love any of sitelinkRobin Roe's books, this is one for you,
CW: suicidal ideation Overall, I think this book is good, It is an important read for empathy and understanding, It taught me a lot and the ending hit me in the feels, I really enjoyed this book in the beginning for Troy, the main character, felt really endearing and reminded me of a friend of mine, This review is purely my opinion and I will always encourage readers to read any book they should wish to read, regardless of what I think about them,
However towards the middle I became a bit frustrated on some of Troy thoughts towards girls and how repetitive he was about it, I know he is a teenage boy but it felt unnecessary and a bit random but maybe it was a stream of consciousness thing,
There was also A LOT of repetition of mentioning Katniss Everdeen/Jennifer Lawrence that felt awkward and unnecessary, Explaining the Khory was strong didn't need to be immediately followed by "like Katniss" every time, Not a big deal just a note that did take me out of the flow of the book,
My third frustration was with Khory as a character, I really liked her but for a character to have such a traumatic thing happen in their past but yet to come of as flat and one dimensional was a bit confusing.
She would be sad about it one moment and then be fine the next with no transition nor explanation, Also, while I neither agree with nor disagree with Khory's stance on the cause of her trauma, it felt as if the author was speaking her own opinion through the character.
It felt like a lecture, . Khory's emotions overall felt shallow and unreal, I think, in my opinion, most people regardless of age would have had more intense emotions about some of the things she's been through/going through, For example trigger warning That is purely due to lack of flushing out the character of Khory to what I, personally, would've wanted,
I also feel like the ending seemed off and rushed, I have a few more thoughts but I don't feel the need to go into detail,
Beyond these points, and other minor patches, the book was a good read and I would still recommend it, It was informational to a point and had a unique take, As a person who lives with mental health issues, I think the stance on mental health that this book gave may have missed the mark slightly but for anyone who has never experienced these types of thoughts/moments, it's a good book to help them begin to understand.
If you read this book then I hope you enjoy it,./List of Ten is about a teenager named Troy Hayes, Troy, now, started showing symptoms of Tourette Syndrome as a child and a year later his mother, from whom he inherited the neurological disease, abandoned the family, He is also Obsessive Compulsive and has a fixation on the number ten, He's in constant pain from his physical tics, tries to be as invisible as possible, and doesn't go out much, He is just tired of his existence and wants to die, So, he's written a list of ten things he plans to do, a kind of bucket list with suicide at the end, But, then he is seated next to Khory,
Khory has had a traumatic experience of her own and her parents are so overprotective that she can't even go to a movie, She understands being different and has no problem looking past Troy's tics to the person inside, When he offers to tutor her in math because "Kiss a girl" is on his list, she is eager to get help but also clearly attracted to him, Through Khory, Troy gets a new circle of friends, But, he's still in horrible pain and frequently humiliated, Can Troy learn to live with his rebellious body or will he go through with the suicide
Not an easy read because it's written in First Person and you experience Troy's anguish, but I think that's also what makes this book so powerful.
The theme of learning to live with your challenges is always a positive one,
I had a couple problems with the book but I've decided they may be spoilery so I've removed them, Suffice it to say that they weren't so overwhelming as to cause me to significantly lower my rating, I'm still giving the book,/because I think it's a very good story and an important one, I've never read a book about someone with Tourette Syndrome in my life, It was eyeopening and I hope List of Ten will get plenty of attention because the more people out there who understand the syndrome, the better, For ten years, sixteenyearold Troy Hayes has lived with the diagnosis that he shares with his estranged mother: Tourette syndrome, Troy not only suffers from uncontrollable muscle twitches that are accompanied by severe pain, he also has obsessive compulsive disorder, The two together make his academic and social life unbearable, Troy decides that the only way out of his pain is to kill himself,
By page two the reader knows it is only a matter of Troy getting through the other nine items on his "to do" list that he keeps on his phone, before he will take his own life which ison his list.
So, how did Halli Gomez write apage book and keep the reader interested since the ending has already been revealed
By raising the questiondoes he do it And by hooking every reader into hoping and believing that he doesn't.
By using deep point of view, Troy's conflicting thoughts and torturous emotions are shown on the first pages, Through his eyes we meet Khory Price, a girl imprisoned in her own life of pain, She is someone who is able to look beyond his compulsion to touch a dirty floor multiple times as he walks down the school hallway, a girl who finds him cute and smart, and a girl who he becomes afraid to hurt.
The novel is full of teenage angst as Troy moves from just being Khory's math tutor, to being a friend, to becoming her boyfriend, He finally wins her protective parents' trust only to blow it when he tries to drive and his
erratic behavior on the road attracts police attention, He's busted for driving without a license and his friend is busted for having marijuana papers in the car, But Troy is no normal teenager, The shadow of his list of ten things to do before he kills himself pervades all of his thoughts and drives many of his choices,
Khory is a welldeveloped, authentic secondary character, She has struggles with her own parents, guilt over being a surviving twin, and gives Troy reasons to think about his purpose in life,
Beyond amazing "showing not telling" what it feels like to be a person with Tourette, my other favorite parts of the book are when Troy begins wrestling with his decision to kill himself.
When his science teacher tells him he has potential, when he is an inspiration to another family whose son has Tourette, when he realizes how Khory will feel when she realizes he lied to herthese were all very authentic and compelling conflicts.
My least favorite part of the book was when Troy's father attempts to have a discussion about sex and ends the conversation by giving his son condoms, I know I'm in the minority, but I don't believe literature for young adults should include frank permissiveness toward sex,
So, how does List of Ten end I won't tell you! But, it is satisfying and it is hopeful, And that should be enough to make you want to read it!,