Cause And Effect

“Inertia, force, mass, gravity, velocity, acceleration. . .cause and effect.

Liz Emerson doesn't understand any of it.

But I do.

I understand how we fall. Where we fall. Why we fall.

I understand her sadness and loneliness and silence, her shattered heart.

It doesn't have to be this way, does it?

It wasn't always this way, was it?

Stay alive, Liz Emerson, stay alive.” 

Is life all about cause and effect?

This is how I grew up,

"You are sick today, because you played in the rain.

Your child is suffering because of your sins."

We believe in karmic justice. 

What goes around comes around.
Everything that goes wrong is blamed on past transgressions.

I bought this book for my daughter.

But I read it before her.

It was confusing in the beginning,

It follows a non linear pattern, which by itself is a give-away. 

I was unsure who was telling the story, it followed various relationships across the years.

It took a while to get used to it, 

Thats when you realise it is depressing. 

It makes you sad. 

There are no fun times, no laughter, no sweet young teenage romance. And it is about a  teenage girl and her friends. 

The characters are extremely unlikeable.

They go out of their way to hate and cause havoc upon poeple they hate and also those whom they love. 

Your words and actions which to you may seem harmless, have a lasting effect on others.

This book is about privileges and the ways they can be misused,

about depression, not just being a feeling of sadness but also the actions it can lead towards, 

about loneliness even though you may seem to have everything and everyone around you.

Why we are unable to reach out for help at times.

How you start to feel the world would be a better place without you. 

“She finally figured out that she, Liz Emerson, was the equal and opposite reaction. She was the consequence.” 

It is an extremely thought provoking book and asks the right questions to parents and young adults.

What is the purpose of your life, what effect does our action have on others, how do we influence others by them, what societal pressure do we take upon ourselves to belong? 

“Funny things, aren't they? People. They only believed in what they could see. Appearances were all that mattered, and no one would ever care what she was like on the inside. No one cared that she was breaking apart.” 

How we lose ourselves somewhere in the search for happiness.

About being strong. Which is not always a good thing, 

Problems are real and we need to face them and seek help. 

To accept help when it is given. 

“She was tired. Gravity pulled at her more aggressively than usual. When she closed her eyes, she could feel it, dragging her deeper, deeper. I would have pulled her back. I would have saved her from falling, but she didn’t see my hand.” 

Everyone has their problem, big or small. 

This book makes it all realistic, it strikes a chord within me for the inner struggles faced and the emotional upheaval a person goes through. The emptiness on a busy day. 

“She wanted to go back. She wanted to be a little girl again, the one who thought getting high meant being pushed on the swing and pain was falling off her bike.” 

This book deals with drugs, casual sex, drinking, rash driving, pregnancy, poor grades, disrespect to authority. 

It is everything you do not want to be exposed to, it is all that you do not want your teenage daughter to know about.

Yet, i think this story is for all the teenagers who are influencing each other as well as being influenced by others.

It is everything a parent should know. It may help understand yourself better and deal with your children a lot more kinder.

There are so many moments in the book I could relate to and I felt myself tearing up and my senses being kicked hard. 

Some of Liz's past tells us about how her future is shaping up.

What can we do today, to make our tomorrow better.

Newton's laws applied to life. 

“It is then, when she releases her need to understand, that everything falls into place.” 

I started reading the book expecting nothing, did not like it when I started, read it with hatred for the characters, started liking them for their rawness, loved the book when I finished. 

I recommend this book to all parents and older teens.

I recommend this book for all counsellors dealing with kids and parents. 

Read

“There's more to life than cause and effect.” 

― Amy Zhang, Falling into Place