The First Time She Drowned By Kerry Kletter | Book Review

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I'm so excited to write my first blog post about book review!! I can't wait to share my thoughts about books and other bookish things with you all. This is going to be so much fun. So my first book review is about my first read of 2021. This is Kerry Kletter's debut novel "The Fist Time She Drowned". 

Summary : 

She'll try to remember.

She'll try to forget.

Cassie O’Malley has been trying to keep her head above water—literally and metaphorically—since birth. It’s been two and a half years since Cassie’s mother dumped her in a mental institution against her will, and now, at eighteen, Cassie is finally able to reclaim her life and enter the world on her own terms. 

But freedom is a poor match against a lifetime of psychological damage. As Cassie plumbs the depths of her new surroundings, the startling truths she uncovers about her own family narrative make it impossible to cut the tethers of a tumultuous past. And when the unhealthy mother-daughter relationship that defined Cassie’s childhood and adolescence threatens to pull her under once again, Cassie must decide: whose version of history is real? And more important, whose life must she save? 

Genre : Contemporary Fiction 

Language : English

No. of pages : 352 

ISBN : 0399171037 (ISBN13: 9780399171031) 

Published : March 15th 2016 by Philomel Books 

Review : 

I absolutely love this book. I love how author beautifully written this book. I got goosebumps while reading it. Her description is so lyrical at the same time scary, ones you realize the depth of the words. 

Story starts with Cassie O’Malley, our protagonist in the mental institute where she is been admitted from past two and half years. Now, she is turning eighteen so that she can discharge herself out of institute. Her relation with her mother is really bad. She is very manipulative, who may or may not be responsible for Cassie’s current condition. 

The story is told by Cassie’s POV. It jumps form past to present. Her real struggle begin when she enter college which by the way she got in from her mother’s help. This unexpected gesture from her mother forces Cassie to think about sudden change of nature. She starts to reconsider her hate for her mother. 

Cassie is like a new born baby in a big college world. She feels so out of place. She doesn’t want to talk with anyone. She does not want to learn anything. But accidentally and finally, she makes a good friend, Zoey. At last everything seems to be normal, her mother seem to be changed; she catching attention from cute boys. 

But there is something from past that start nagging her mind; she can’t shake away the feeling. She got overwhelmed by everything. Her fragile mental health seemed to be slipping form her hand. The constant nightmares from the past, that haunts her every night becomes worse. Triggering by some events, her mind starts to reveal things that she wants to hide forever. Is Cassie strong enough to survive this or she going to drown in her own mind?

Okay, I absolutely love this book! I love how carefully author describes Cassie’s feeling. It is so emotional that sometimes we can connect to this fictional character through her words even though we may or may not have experienced such trauma. About Cassie's character, she is so brave at the same time fragile. I love her character development. Kerry's writing style is so outstanding for her debut novel, especially when she merges Cassie’s childhood with her present. I'm looking so forward to read more of her works.

I would recommend this book to everyone, specifically older teens and adults. If you had loved reading “Perks of Being Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky”, then you would definitely love this.

Rating : 5/5

Comment down below and let me know what do you think of The Fist Time She Drowned book review..