Museum of Us

by Tara Wilson Redd

An intoxicating debut novel that will leave you questioning what is real and why we escape into fantasy, perfect for fans of Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer and Falling into Place by Amy Zhang.

Secrets are con artists: they trick you into letting them out.

Sadie loves her rocker boyfriend Henry and her running partner and best friend Lucie, but no one can measure up to her truest love and hero, the dazzling and passionate George. George, her secret.

When something goes wrong and Sadie is taken to the hospital calling out for George, her hidden life may be exposed. Now she must confront the truth of the past, and protect a world she is terrified to lose.

"A teen learns to use her rich interior world to fight trauma, but is this the only way out? This honest, heartfelt tale is deep and mysterious as imagination itself." --Judy Blundell, author of What I Saw and How I Lied and Strings Attached

"You'll inhale as you skid into the first chapter and only exhale as you cling to the last. A beautiful book about longing and loss . . . and what is real." --Teresa Toten, author of The Hero of Room 13B, winner of the Governor General Award, and Beware That Girl

• ISBN10: 1524766879
• ISBN13: 9781524766870
• Publish Date: 26 June 2018
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 4 October 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Wendy Lamb Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781524766870

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Sadie and George have been on amazing adventures, and he was always there for her when she needed him. However, George was not real. He only existed in her imagination, and Sadie was struggling more and more with being present in the real world and escaping it with George.

After a car accident landed her in the hospital, Sadie was forced to confront her issues, and had to choose between George and living in the real world.

This was a really interesting exploration of mental health. Though Redd never comes out with an official diagnosis, I was well aware that Sadie was dealing with some form of mental illness. That was part of the mystery in this book, which was never fully revealed, but I was also curious about the root cause of Sadie's behavior.

Redd alternates between past and present, real world and Sadie's imaginary world, as she slowly reveals the point where George first manifested and why. The whole process was sometimes odd, but oddly interesting, and I found myself wanting to know more and more with every page, because it was obvious something was off with Sadie. Every important person in her life seemed to know there was something wrong, but Sadie constantly evaded their probing, and worked harder to keep that part of herself hidden.

This was a beautifully written and honest portrayal of one woman's struggle with trauma from her past and the choice to move forward and heal or keep it hidden away forever.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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[llamareads]

Trigger warnings: depression, cutting, suicidal ideation

Everyone remembers daydreaming about their favorite shows or books, inserting themselves into the narrative and becoming an adventurer or spy or princess or Hogwarts student. As we get older, though, slowly the real world supersedes our daydreams. But what if we decided to never leave?

“The whole world started with George.”

We first meet Sadie in the aftermath of a car accident. It soon becomes clear that it’s not her physical injuries that are keeping her in the hospital, but what led to the crash, and who this mysterious George that she called out for is. The problem is – George isn’t real. He’s her partner in all her imaginary adventures, her first love, her true best friend. Now he’s in danger of being exposed to the outside world, and Sadie’s afraid that will cause her to lose him forever and force her to live in the real world. From the outside, Sadie has a near perfect life, even though most people consider her a bit strange since she has a tendency to get lost in her thoughts. She’s co-captain of her high school’s track team with her best friend, has a rock band boyfriend and has two loving and supportive parents. Over the course of her two weeks in the hospital, though, through flashbacks and her interactions with her friends and family, Sadie’s past is slowly revealed through bits and pieces, from her past adventures with George to the trauma that led her to retreat into her own mind.

“The second you uncap a pen, you’ve already lost. Secrets are con artists: they trick you into letting them out. I know better than to write the truth in a journal. Your mind is the only vault you can trust.
But can you even trust that?”

I think the mental health discussion was handled well. It didn’t feel too preachy or too voyeur-like, but, like the rest of the book, was raw and honest. I especially liked that at the end it was ultimately Sadie’s choice to let go of her inner world and it’s her actions that save her, not some magic pill or love interest. The book itself is haunting and heartbreaking, and like Sadie’s friends and parents, I felt both frustrated with and supportive of Sadie. I thought she was a very relatable character, and as bits of her life were revealed to use, I sympathized with why she’d want to keep her fantasies.

Overall, I enjoyed this book very much, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a young adult book that deals with mental illness and fantasy!

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.