Heroine by Mindy McGinnis – ⭐⭐⭐
New anti-drug campaign from this book: “Don’t do drugs if you still want to love puppies.”
Or possibly, “Did you know drug usage and withdrawal can make you uncontrollably throw up and poop yourself at the same time? Because it can. Don’t do drugs.”
Recommended: Maybe, for certain people/reasons
For people who have no sympathy for addicts, for people who blame the addict for their addiction, for people who might be starting that slide into addiction themselves and need a non-threatening dose of reality
Summary:
Mickey plays softball. Mickey is a softball BEAST. Mickey gets in a bad accident. Mickey can’t play softball until she’s healed. Mickey is prescribed pills to help her heal. Mickey really likes the way the pills make her feel. Mickey makes friends through her pill use. Mickey is pretty much healed… Mickey doesn’t need the pills anymore. Except that Mickey DEFINITELY still needs the pills…
Thoughts:
The subject matter makes this an obviously compelling read. The first chapter sets you up to know how bad things get, and the following can be hard to read since you know the inevitable that will happen. Similar to the way it felt reading A Girl Like That actually, except this one didn’t really resonate with me as much.
I’ll be honest, the reason I didn’t get as much behind our MC as usual is probably because I could not relate to her AT ALL. I hate that her name is Mickey, and for a trivial thing, that just irked me every time I had to read it. I have no interest in or knowledge of softball, and competitive sports don’t pull me in so much. And for whatever other reasons, I just didn’t like her much.
That said, the depiction of drug use here is so realistic, primarily in the thoughts and mentality that can allow someone to get deeper and deeper without realizing it’s a problem until something drastic happens. The “It’s a prescription” defense, the “it’s not like I’m doing [some drug that’s more hardcore than theirs] so it’s not that bad” reasoning… it’s painful to watch.
Still… for me this book won’t stick with me, I think. Besides the clever name and cover. I’d probably have it in my classroom because it’s a good resource for kids taking on more than they can handle. Oh also, it was really gross at some points. Heads up on that.
My Book Joy 