Hey, if you ever end up in WA... or if I ever end up in Texas (at least I think that's where you are?)... I mean, I'd love to actually visit and see my darling nieces again, who must be far taller than me since Shay and Vel are both 6ft. I'd love to meet Ashbet, and Naamah and Sargon, who are in OK. Hmmm.
Yes, I am too. Mom and I were not exactly close when I was a teen, because at that point my Dad had started treating me as his personal therapist and he was bad-mouthing her -- and I mean, I knew some of it was crazy (and I do use this word deliberately; my dad is most definitely mentally ill) but he also is the type to spin things in such a way that they seem perfectly logical. I was a kid; I didn't have defenses against that then.
So, Mom felt like she couldn't actually talk to me, which was true. I would have blown her off. So she did the only thing that she could think of, which was to give me books. I didn't find out until I was an adult and we were talking that she had intentionally given me those because she realized I was depressed (although I don't think she realized I was suicidal). The book has plenty of problematic stuff, like most of Anthony's work, but reading about a depressed, suicidal teen who wasn't magically cured of her depression by having adventures really brought it home to me that there wasn't something wrong with me. It's an illness. I think I would have felt much worse about myself if I had not had those books.
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Yes, I am too. Mom and I were not exactly close when I was a teen, because at that point my Dad had started treating me as his personal therapist and he was bad-mouthing her -- and I mean, I knew some of it was crazy (and I do use this word deliberately; my dad is most definitely mentally ill) but he also is the type to spin things in such a way that they seem perfectly logical. I was a kid; I didn't have defenses against that then.
So, Mom felt like she couldn't actually talk to me, which was true. I would have blown her off. So she did the only thing that she could think of, which was to give me books. I didn't find out until I was an adult and we were talking that she had intentionally given me those because she realized I was depressed (although I don't think she realized I was suicidal). The book has plenty of problematic stuff, like most of Anthony's work, but reading about a depressed, suicidal teen who wasn't magically cured of her depression by having adventures really brought it home to me that there wasn't something wrong with me. It's an illness. I think I would have felt much worse about myself if I had not had those books.