Willow by Julia Hoban | Online Book Review

Willow by Julia Hoban is the story of Willow; a seventeen year old girl who tries to cope with the tragedy of a terrible accident which took the lives of her parents by secretly cutting herself.

My book review rating: 5 stars – couldn’t put it down

I was beginning to think I’d lost my reading mojo this year; after the vast number of books I got through in 2008 I’ve gotten off to a very slow start. But when I opened the package containing Willow by Julia Hoban, I took one look at the cover and knew this book would reignite the spark!

I had to take a four hour train journey today so I settled down in my seat for some uninterrupted reading time. I have to say that this book had me riveted from the first paragraph – I was actually disappointed that I had to take a break in the middle of reading it to attend the conference I was travelling to!

In this Young Adult novel, Hoban takes the very sensitive subject of self-harm and delivers a powerful story. Of how people cope with loss, of our perceptions of the world around us, and how sometimes we see things differently to everyone else, almost to the point of paranoia.

The characters are believable, from Willow herself, a girl wracked with guilt over the death of her parents, who believes the only way to stay strong is to cut her skin with razor blades. Guy – the boy she meets who is the one person she can really be herself with; his sensitivity and understand him make him the kind of person anyone would be very lucky to know. And David, her elder brother who one stormy night finds himself moved to a whole other role, of parent and guardian, and is struggling in his own way to cope with the tragedy that has engulfed them both.

In Willow, Hoban forces us to look more deeply into what causes people to resort to self-harm, the effects it has on them and on the people around them. I would highly recommend it to anyone, whether you are a young adult or not, and am looking forward to reading anything else Hoban has to offer.

Want to know more about WILLOW? Read my interview with Julia Hoban.

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A well thought out book   Review Date: August 26, 2010 Reviewer: Dune Elliot, USA This is a YA book that I picked up purely by chance, and when I read the inside flap it hit a nerve. Julia Hoban has written this book about a girl who suffers from self-harm and the mental torment that it stems from. Although the insight and understanding of self-harm is pretty good for the most part, there are some places where it just doesn't feel quite 'real'. It's a very touchy subject. The characters are believable and I liked them, but there was an occasional time when I felt th ...more This is a YA book that I picked up purely by chance, and when I read the inside flap it hit a nerve. Julia Hoban has written this book about a girl who suffers from self-harm and the mental torment that it stems from. Although the insight and understanding of self-harm is pretty good for the most part, there are some places where it just doesn't feel quite 'real'. It's a very touchy subject. The characters are believable and I liked them, but there was an occasional time when I felt that they were a little wooden (and not just when they were intended to be). This is a tough subject to write about, and it is an even tougher subject to write about well and with compassion, as well as focusing on the real issues about self-harm. I would be interested to know why the author knows what she does - is it from personal experience? Or from being on the outside looking in, like the male character? A Kindleobsessed Review   Review Date: August 20, 2010 Reviewer: Misty Baker, Texas "It's so curious: one can resist tears and `behave' very well in the hardest hours of grief. But then someone makes you a friendly sign behind a window, or one notices that a flower that was in bud only yesterday has suddenly blossomed, or a letter slips from a drawer... and everything collapses." ~Colette How true. In life we deal with 2 types of pain, emotional and physical. Most of the time the two are mutually exclusive, however at times they are triggered by the other. "Willow" by Julia Hoban is just one example of what happens when the inability to control your emotions leads to the compulsion to feel physical relief. Willow talks to no one, she wears long sleeves regardless of the weather, and she is addicted to pain. Why? because she is a cutter. Unable to deal with the emotional responsibility of her parents sudden death (that she inadvertently caused) Willow does the only thing she can think...she abolishes her heartache with physical pain, but when a boy named Guy suddenly takes notice of her...and her arms, something snaps. Will Guy's intense nature eventually help, or hinder Willow's little problem? Will Willow ever understand the significance of crying, and if she finally does...will it be enough to stop her destructive behavior? I know it can sometimes be confusing when I label devastating literature as beautiful... but that's what it is. When a book has the ability to make you forget where you are, feel the pain, and love of its characters, and push the boundaries of what is acceptable conversation... it is no longer a book. It is art. Hoban created a story that was so overwhelming, that at times I felt as if I would explode from the on-slot of sensory overload. The skeletal plot of "Willow" was about love, grief, and understanding... but the lessons in between are what is important: acceptance, compassion, compulsion, redemption, and the ability to let go. There are several places through-out this novel in which you will hang your head in disbelief, unable to mentally comprehend what is actually happening, and even more moments in which you will find yourself shaking or crying. Let it happen... it's what keeps you from becoming broken...it's what keeps you from becoming Willow. Now, I could write for days, pages of beautiful words to express what I felt for this book... the writing was breathtaking, the plot was wonderful, I fell in love with a damaged girl...but none of it would ever be enough. So it leaves me only one solution, you will just have to read if for yourself. Happy reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: YOU create your own paradise, and your own prison. Boring and repetitive.   Review Date: August 2, 2010 Reviewer: *Caligirl_08*, San Diego Short summary: Teenage girl accidentally kills parents during a car accident in which she was driving, blames self and proceeds to cut herself for the duration of the book. Suddenly a cute boy appears and saves her from her misery. the end. oh and she has a brother. If it sounds underwhelming, it's because IT IS. The book just went on and on and onnnnn like some sort of therapy session between Willow and her therapist, oops, I mean Guy, the random cute boy with the white knight complex. The parts about her cutting seemed inauthentic to me. I used to be a cutter when I was a teenager (and I'm not saying that unless everyone else's experiences are exactly like mine they're inauthentic) but there's a lot more to cutting than 'oh the physical pain numbs away the mental pain.' which seems to be the thing that this author latched onto and she carried off with this concept waaaay too much. And the way she describes how Willow feels when she's cutting (like she goes into some heroin-like trance?? really??) i almost want to tell this author to go get some blades and cut herself before she goes ahead and tries to describe what it feels like because just imagining it, you're not gonna get it. I wanted to also say something about what the other reviewers criticized, how it seems at the end of the book that all Willow needed was a good shag to quit the cutting... I do see where they would get that but I think the author makes it pretty clear that *something inside of Willow changed* when she went to the parent's house, found the mom's note and CRIED FOR THE FIRST TIME, which THEN allowed her to open up to Guy and have sex for the first time and give up on cutting. The mom's note/crying stuff was that catalyst NOT the sex. But honestly the book was such a boring repetitive little snooze-fest that really, who cares?? I only give it 2 stars because i was able to read it to the end. Grieving Cutter Heals With Love   Review Date: July 28, 2010 Reviewer: Stephanie Su, Swarthmore, PA WILLOW is an impressive novel about a difficult subject. The main character, Willow, is extremely well developed, and this book approaches her path to healing in a careful, subtle, yet realistic way. It balances the time spent on Willow's personal healing, her growing relationship with Guy, and her healing relationship with her brother in a matter that's satisfying in the end. Julia Hoban writes in the third-person limited present tense, which may be a bit jarring at first, but you will quickly lose yourself in the emotional ups and downs of this book. Willow's path to recovery is not easy, and sometimes you'll want to cry the tears that she cannot, as she continues to hurt herself even though there are people caring about her. The ending, however, is hopeful, and ties up all of the major relationship issues satisfactorily. All in all, WILLOW is a rare accomplishment of poignancy, grief, and the healing power of love. Read it if you want a Sarah Dessen-like story about emotional numbness and the difficult road to healing and feeling again. Willow is my cat's name.   Review Date: July 26, 2010 Reviewer: Morgan Leigh, CT, USA Everything changed on the rainy March months seven months ago. Willow's parents were tipsy and asked her to drive home, a decision that would cost them there lives. Ever since then, Willow has felt disconnected from the world, her only reprieve is in multilating her own body, one cut at a time. But everything changes when she meets Guy, the only one with whom she can possibly share her secret. I did not like Willow. Not the book, the character. She was a whiny little biotch. I understand that I probably should pity her, her being responsible for her parents deaths and all, but she makes it so damn hard. It's not the cutting that makes her so unlikable. Even though I am not a cutter myself, I understand the concept and have friends who divulge in it. It's just her view of the world. She expected the whole damn universe to revolve around her. She whined about people being inconsiderate around her and about how no one "got her". But Willow was always wrong about others. She judged them before they could judge her. I didn't understand her logic most of the time. And I hate how she would always go "well, I killed my parents." You're not the only who has ever lost anyone, Willow. You are not the only person in the world who is grieving. I just wanted her to get over herself. Though admittedly, I did like her considerably more by the novel's end. Based on the character of Willow alone, this book would have gotten two stars. Thankfully, the itense writing and topic made me really like it. The writing flowed really well, and its interesting how this book was in third person instead of the expeceted first person. Of course, cutting is an always disturbing, intriguing topic, as much as you wish that it wasn't. And Guy might have been too perfect, but he was sweet and sensitive without being gay (glances at her copy of Shiver). But I felt sorry for the poor guy (hehe, pun). He was stuck with Willow. And I also liked David and all the literary references. One more thing that didn't quite fly with me was the end. A spoiler is coming up, so AVERT YOUR EYES. Okay, so teenage sex. It happens a lot. A lot a lot. So why encourage it? "Guy, we need to sleep together because I'm sad." "Okay then." *they do it* "Okay, I'm all better." "Okay, then." Just a little bit of WTF. Overall, parts of this book and others parts I didn't like at all (aka Willow). But it is a good book, no doubt about that. It has a powerful, intense theme that I'm sure teenagers (especially cutters looking to relate) will eat up.
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