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Summary
Summary
From the author of Our Chemical Hearts comes the hilarious, reality-bending tale of two outsiders facing their greatest fears about life and love--one debilitating phobia at a time.
Ever since Esther Solar's grandfather was cursed by Death, everyone in her family has been doomed to suffer one great fear in their lifetime. Esther's father is agoraphobic and hasn't left the basement in six years, her twin brother can't be in the dark without a light on, and her mother is terrified of bad luck.
The Solars are consumed by their fears and, according to the legend of the curse, destined to die from them.
Esther doesn't know what her great fear is yet (nor does she want to), a feat achieved by avoiding pretty much everything. Elevators, small spaces and crowds are all off-limits. So are haircuts, spiders, dolls, mirrors and three dozen other phobias she keeps a record of in her semi-definitive list of worst nightmares.
Then Esther is pickpocketed by Jonah Smallwood, an old elementary school classmate. Along with her phone, money and a fruit roll-up she'd been saving, Jonah also steals her list of fears. Despite the theft, Esther and Jonah become friends, and he sets a challenge for them: in an effort to break the curse that has crippled her family, they will meet every Sunday of senior year to work their way through the list, facing one terrifying fear at a time, including one that Esther hadn't counted on: love.
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Each member of 17-year-old Esther Solar's family is consumed by a different fear. Terrified to leave the house, her father has holed himself up in the basement for six years. Her mother, a believer in ghosts and bad luck, has become addicted to gambling. And due to Esther's twin brother's intense fear of the dark, their house is lit 24/7. Esther believes that her family's propensity for these phobias stems from a curse bestowed on her grandfather years ago, and she dreads discovering a latent terror that will overtake her. Then Jonah, an elementary school acquaintance turned pickpocket, offers to help Esther confront and conquer 50 fears on a list she has assembled. In a darkly ironic tale about an offbeat dysfunctional family, Sutherland (Our Chemical Hearts) gives mixed messages about fate, death, and mental disorders; the supernatural elements of the novel feel incongruous beside Esther's growing understanding of psychological illnesses and her tendency to hide her true self from the world. Though some characters undergo various forms of salvation, the book's resolution is unsettling. Ages 14-up. Agent: Catherine Drayton, Inkwell Management. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Esther Solar's family has been cursed since her grandfather met Death repeatedly in the Vietnam War. While each person is haunted by a different, deadly phobia, Esther fends off the curse by accumulating fears and avoiding them--until a sensitive boy helps her conquer her phobias. Esther's strong narrative voice carries this dynamic, pseudo-supernatural portrait of how mental illness affects an eccentric family. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Esther Solar's family is not just strange, they're cursed. Ever since Grandpa Reg met Death and was told he'd die by drowning, the Solars have believed they're fated to die from their greatest fear. For Esther's mother, it's bad luck; her agoraphobic father won't leave the basement; and her twin brother is petrified of the dark. To learn what her own curse will be, Esther keeps a semi-definitive list of all her fears, not knowing which will be her demise. When she is reacquainted with her third-grade crush, Jonah, he sets out to help Esther conquer those fears one by one, but her developing feelings for him may prove Esther's most daunting obstacle yet. Dark, magical, and humorous, this is a quirky and cohesive novel about fear, depression, and obsession with death. Emotions run rampant alongside countless pop culture references, and the layered characters will resonate with readers. Teens grappling with their own fears, depression, or thoughts of suicide will feel not so alone with this compassionately offbeat book.--Fredriksen, Jeanne Copyright 2017 Booklist
Bookseller Publisher Review
This is a touching, hilarious and relatable book for older teens about depression, anxiety, facing your fears and learning to accept help when you need it most. Seventeen-year-old Esther's life is dominated by her semi-definitive list of 50 worst nightmares and the curse on her family to be killed by their greatest fear. Accompanied by her twin brother, who is deathly afraid of the dark; her best friend, who is a mute not-quite ghost; and the boy who broke her heart when she was eight, Esther attempts to undo the curse by facing each fear on the list. Krystal Sutherland deftly balances nuanced conversations about dark topics such as suicide, mental health, domestic violence and addiction, with happier topics such as first love, family bonds, YouTube fame and pop-culture references. Though there are ghosts, curses and Death as a character, this book is a contemporary novel. The fantasy elements are all either a product of the protagonist's overactive imagination or left open for readers to decide. A Semi-definitive List of Worst Nightmares is suitable for readers comfortable with violence; it includes self-harm, a suicide attempt by a main character and physical abuse of a child by a parent. Tamsien West is a blogger at Babbling Books and the development executive at Melbourne Writers Festival
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Esther's family is cursed; according to her grandfather, everyone Esther loves is doomed to be killed by the thing of which they are most afraid. Her twin Eugene is terrified of the dark, her mother is a superstitious compulsive gambler, and her father is agoraphobic and hasn't left the basement in six years. Esther's fears are elucidated in her "Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares." After reconnecting with her elementary school valentine Jonah, her list is stolen by said valentine, and the recovery of the list leads to a relationship between the two. As Esther comes to trust Jonah, they work together to overcome her fears, one by one, by facing them directly. Lobsters, graveyards, and heights are a few of the anxieties they tackle together, with Jonah filming the process and, unbeknownst to her posting it to YouTube. Esther, Jonah, and her family are complex and lovable characters fighting their individual demons. Woven throughout is a subplot concerning death incarnate that somehow manages to lighten the tone of the novel. VERDICT Rainbow Rowell devotees, John Green junkies, and fans of This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales will find a lot to love here.-Deidre Winterhalter, Oak Park Public Library, IL © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
In some ways, fear can keep you safe, but for the Solar family, fear is what keeps them from fully living.When Esther Solar meets Jonah Smallwood at a bus stop, he doesn't recognize her at first. They were 8 the last time they saw each other. This was before Esther's brother, Eugene, became pathologically frightened of the dark, before her father retreated to the basement, and before her mother became addicted to gambling and superstition. Together, the white girl and the black boy confront Esther's list of fears one by one in the hopes of attracting Death, otherwise known as Jack Horowitz, and releasing her family from the curse she believes dooms her family to death by fear. What Esther doesn't know is that Jonah struggles with his own kind of curse. It's a bewitching book about the love shared with family, damaged and all, and the multitude of ways in which mental illness manifests in daily life. Sutherland's fertile imagination makes this book a deep dive into the intricacies of family, friends, and personal history. The characters are fully distinct and genuine, and the dips into a historical narrative lend an essential veritas to the story. By combining the harsh experience of severe mental illness with a light magical touch, the author creates a space for readers to gain new perspective on what it's like to live with real demons. Resources on mental illness and an urgent exhortation that there's no shame in seeking help follow. A fresh and compelling look at mental illness. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.