Book Review: ‘Your Voice is All I Hear’

Hitting bookstores on Sept. 1, “Your Voice is All I Hear” from Leah Scheier barely kept me interested but left me near tears by the end.

Throughout the entire first half I thought about putting the book down, not finishing it and walking away. But I’m glad I didn’t.

The main character, April, falls in love with Jonah, the new guy in school. He starts to act strangely as time passes, talking when no one is in the room and listening to voices. Shortly after, he has a Schizophrenic episode which ends with his mother calling the police.

The first half of the novel moved quicker than I would have liked, as Jonah went from acting normally to needing hospitalization in just a couple chapters. However, Scheier seems to give a fairly accurate portrayal of Schizophrenia since Jonah has both good and bad days.

Even though Scheier portrays Schizophrenia accurately, I found most characters to be very stereotypical, especially in the beginning. I felt I always knew exactly what each character was going to do in any given situation. There was the mean girl, the outsider, the best friend, the love interest. Everything was formulaic.

Although I was frustrated throughout the middle portion during which April’s character struggled to deal with her boyfriend’s illness, the ending redeemed the novel.

Up until the last third of the story I was certain I would rate this book two out of five stars. However, in the last couple chapters my heart went out to April and Jonah. They had been through so much, and yet the ending was still heartbreaking.

This novel has its ups and downs, but when it comes down to it, the ending did not completely compensate for the horrible beginning and stereotypical characters. “Your Voice is All I Hear” gets three stars out of five.

 

Jenna Koslowski

Arts and Entertainment Editor

jkosl669@uwsp.edu

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