Katie King
Written on Dec 19, 2014
**2 Stars**
I've read a few of Amy Reed's books before - and I really liked all of them. I would describe her style as similar to Ellen Hopkins, that really personal look at "tough issues" in teens' lives such as pregnancy, rape, drugs, etc. So I knew that I wanted to request an ARC of Damaged. But when I was reading it, I realized that this is quite the departure for her usual style.
For one, the writing approached the problem (death) with a "rediscovering yourself via adventure" style plot. In previous novels, like Hopkins, Reed had her characters solve their problems via rehab or similar structures. So in this case, it felt like more of a John Green novel than an Ellen Hopkins novel. Except I hate John Green. I didn't like this change at all. I wanted to read Damaged because I thought it would be exactly like her other novels. I mean, they all even have the same style of cover. When I realized it was completely different, I was pretty disappointed.
Putting all that aside, I was still disappointed because the plot really lacked substance. Kinsey's best friend Camille has been dead for two months. Kinsey is haunted 24/7 by Camille's ghost (not in a paranormal sense, psychologically, although that wasn't very clear in the story) reminding her what happened. She can hardly function as a human being but she thinks that running away with Camille's boyfriend is going to help. Now, Camille's boyfriend is also a piece of work, but together they are ASKING to run into trouble. He abuses drugs and alcohol and she is hallucinating. I'm surprised they made it the whole trip (although they almost didn't a few times).
By the time I was done with this book, I didn't really understand what the point of the trip was if Kinsey was going to turn around and go right back to Michigan. Kinsey didn't really grow, she just dealt with a lot of the boyfriend's shit. She also sure isn't getting away from her abusive mother if she's going back home. The boyfriend I guess got away from his neglectful father. But neither of them really got away from Camille (basically the whole point). They had a prolonged hook-up, because other than sex, I wasn't sure if they were planning on being together or not at the end. Nobody grew. They just dealt with each other's shit and had sex.
One thing that was pretty good (like all Reed's books) is her ability to harness emotion and use it in a forceful way. She is pretty talented at that and this book is no exception. I felt empathy with Kinsey over Camille's death and how her mother treated her. I felt Hunter's (the boyfriend) rage and disgust with his father over his choices. Obviously the problem with this is that for certain characters this was a little uncomfortable. Kinsey's mom is mentally ill (I suspect something like schizoaffective disorder or bipolar disorder) and could be very abusive. Her grandmother wants absolutely nothing to do with her and refuses to let her in her house if she can help it. These two relationships made me pretty sad when I was reading the book.
This wasn't that horrible of a book. I enjoyed the beginning before the road trip. There was a lot of internal struggle and good use of emotion. But then they went on the road trip and I felt like I was reading a cliche John Green novel and I didn't want anything to do with this anymore.