The First Time She Drowned is a book that stays with you long after you've finished it. I found myself staying up way later than I normally would just so I could finish it and then I still kept thinking about it.
Told in both the present and with flashbacks, The First Time She Drowned follows Cassie after she discharges herself (against medical advice) from a mental institution where she's been living for more than two years. Even on her final visit with her psychologist, Cassie stresses the fact that she should not have been institutionalized at all and that her mother made up a story to tell the doctors in order to get her admitted. That awful fact sinks like a stone with readers who can't imagine a mother doing such a thing.
After Cassie leaves the hospital, she finds her way to Newport, RI where she is about to start her Freshman year of college. Upon arriving at college, her mother randomly calls her wanting to re-connect and repair their mother/daughter relationship. By this point, readers have already gone through enough of Cassie's flashbacks to know that this is a toxic idea, but Cassie remains optimistic and tries to begin again with her mother.
The flashbacks show how truly damaged Cassie's life was while growing up. Some plot twists and reveals were easy to see coming. That being said, it didn't make it any easier when Kletter detailed them. The pain readers feel for Cassie is palpable. Throughout the entire book, I felt myself cringing each time her mother was in a scene and my heart ached for how she treated Cassie.
To be honest, there were parts of Cassie's personality that were difficult for me to like - particularly in the way that she treated Chris. I can absolutely understand that she behaved this way as a defense mechanism. It was just difficult to see how little she thought of herself where she couldn't understand why someone would want to be kind to her.
This is not a light read. This is a story for those who like drama-heavy books. There are many heavy topics that are touched upon in this book and I felt like I needed a long cry after finishing it. It's an easy one to recommend, though, for readers who like drama in their realistic fiction. It was beautifully written and captured my attention from start to finish.
Told in both the present and with flashbacks, The First Time She Drowned follows Cassie after she discharges herself (against medical advice) from a mental institution where she's been living for more than two years. Even on her final visit with her psychologist, Cassie stresses the fact that she should not have been institutionalized at all and that her mother made up a story to tell the doctors in order to get her admitted. That awful fact sinks like a stone with readers who can't imagine a mother doing such a thing.
After Cassie leaves the hospital, she finds her way to Newport, RI where she is about to start her Freshman year of college. Upon arriving at college, her mother randomly calls her wanting to re-connect and repair their mother/daughter relationship. By this point, readers have already gone through enough of Cassie's flashbacks to know that this is a toxic idea, but Cassie remains optimistic and tries to begin again with her mother.
The flashbacks show how truly damaged Cassie's life was while growing up. Some plot twists and reveals were easy to see coming. That being said, it didn't make it any easier when Kletter detailed them. The pain readers feel for Cassie is palpable. Throughout the entire book, I felt myself cringing each time her mother was in a scene and my heart ached for how she treated Cassie.
To be honest, there were parts of Cassie's personality that were difficult for me to like - particularly in the way that she treated Chris. I can absolutely understand that she behaved this way as a defense mechanism. It was just difficult to see how little she thought of herself where she couldn't understand why someone would want to be kind to her.
This is not a light read. This is a story for those who like drama-heavy books. There are many heavy topics that are touched upon in this book and I felt like I needed a long cry after finishing it. It's an easy one to recommend, though, for readers who like drama in their realistic fiction. It was beautifully written and captured my attention from start to finish.