Book 32: Find You in the Dark

Title and Author: Find You in the Dark, by A. Meredith Walters

Illustrator: none
Publisher: Gallery Books, a division of Simon & Schuster
Published: 2012
Genre: Young adult fiction/romance
Target Audience/Age Group: Young Adults
Part of a Series? Yes
Will the Reviewer Keep It In His/Her Library? no
First line: How did I get here?

"Depression is a very bad thing," Basil Fawlty told his waiter. This line was very funny in the Fawlty Towers episode where Manuel is mourning his dead rat, Basil. In real life depression isn't funny at all.

This book tells the story of a teenager who falls in love with a boy who is suffering from depression. At the end, the boy has the courage and self-awareness to break off his relationship with her because he loves her and he knows he can never give her what a true partner should. She deserves better. Good for him. She, however, probably won't let him go, since the final pages promote a sequel. Another PALS member summed up the ending up well, "Bitches be crazy."

This book does a disservice to the depressed because it makes the boy's parents the reason he is the way he is. Depression is an illness that strikes people in all kinds of family circumstances with all kinds of parents. Teenagers need to know anyone can suffer from depression, not just kids with rotten parents. Their best friend, whose parents are the nicest adults in town, could be cutting herself secretly. There should be no blame, only treatment.