Though this was a pretty good book, it wasn't one of my favorites.(as you can see, i have to experience writing reviews :P) I just wanted people to know that this book is one that leaves you hanging in the end, you don't find out exactly what happens, it's up for the reader to decide I guess. I just wanted to warn people like me, who depise not finding out what happens. That's all from me. ( )

An interesting but not entirely successful novel that explores the relationship between two teenage sisters, one of whom, Jane, suffered from serious mental illness and has recently died after being struck by a car. Griffin presents the points of view of the siblings in alternating chapters.

Although Jane died in the spring, and it is now summer, she has been unable to leave the earth. She lingers on at the place she loved best, the now derelict home of her deceased grandparents. The reader learns that Jane’s psychosis (elevated mood, delusions, and auditory hallucinations) first presented when, as a twelve-year-old, she went on a camping trip with her grandmother and grandfather. She believed that a fish her grandfather had caught, subsequently eaten for supper, was trying to reassemble itself within her so that it could return to the lake. Since that time six years before, Jane had been on antipsychotics. The medication kept the worst of her symptoms at bay but it failed to alter her sense of being out of step with the rest of the world.

Though a year younger than Jane, Lily Calvert has always felt like the older sister. She’s pretty, popular, and actively involved in school clubs. She also has a sensitive, steady boyfriend, Caleb, a classmate of Jane’s with his own unusual history. It wasn’t easy for Lily to grow up with Jane. In fact, the Calvert family’s existence essentially revolved around her illness. Since her sibling’s death, Lily has leaned heavily on Caleb, who (somewhat unconvincingly) has put his own life on hold to provide emotional support to her. (While his friends are almost all off to college in the fall, he’s made no post-secondary-school plans.) Lily has also been reluctant to attend parties and social gatherings since her sister’s death. It’s a small town; her loss and the family circumstances are known to most.

The big event of the novel is a party held by a school classmate. An exchange with another attendee forces her to confront some things she’s been hiding from herself.

The alternating points of view and lots of light dialogue keep the novel moving at a brisk pace. The subject matter is heavy, but Griffin’s book is not as dreary as one might expect. In part, this is because the treatment of Lily’s bereavement is very superficial. The denouement and resolution are far too quick and neat. Not a bad read, but not a particularly memorable one either. ( )

Lily and Jane are sisters, not very far apart. Jane, the eldest, has some serious, but unspecified, emotional/mental issues. Lily, the youngest does not. As young children they are extremely close, but as they get into high school, Lily follows the traditional teen path - hang out with friends, fall in love with boys, etc. Jane wants everything to stay exactly the same way it always has been. As a result, they grow more distant. And then, Jane is hit by a car and killed.
The whole novel takes place after that. Lily is trying to cope with the loss of her sister, and her chapters are told in first person. Jane is in some sort of after-life world-like-this-one, and her chapters are told in third person.
The book is well written, fluid with easy transitions from one sister to the other's narrative.
But in the end, I was left kind of blank, not feeling like there was a strong point to the novel. In the final chapters, both sisters seem to move forward and to have learned something, but I didn't feel that the story really built up to the resolution. A decent book, but I'm surprised it was a National Book Award finalist. ( )

One home. One sisterhood. Two distinctly different lives. This grippingly intense story casts a heavy shroud of uncertainty, suspense, and intrigue at the first turn of a page. From chapter to chapter, readers teeter between the experiences of sisters Jane and Lily. This rotation of personal perspectives embodies far more than alternate views—it dramatically recounts a shuddering life-changing event from two very different angles. Though separated by only a couple of years in age, the sisters are miles apart in their perception of what is real and what is fantasy. As Jane sinks deeper into her insurmountable battle with mental illness, Lily struggles to make sense of the older sister she once adored. With its exceptionally dark premise, gut-wrenching realizations, and emotionally striking plot, this young adult novel invokes powerful introspection within the young mind. ( )

Two sisters, Jane and Lily. Jane suffers from severe depression, and while the author doesn't mention schizophrenia, it appears that Jane also is in the throes of hearing voices and slipping in and out of reality.

The family is loving and understanding and tries to the best of their ability to help Jane. When she dies in an accident, the they are left wondering if it was purposeful. Lily is left with severe grief.

The subject matter is intense, but somehow the writing style lacked depth.

I cannot recommend this one at all.