Book Review: The Opposite of Falling Apart by Micah Good

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Synopsis:

Jonas Avery has lost his leg in a terrible car accident. All he wants is to leave for college, where he can finally start over.

Brennan Davis is dreading leaving home. It is the only place she can manage her anxiety.

When Jonas and Brennan meet by chance the summer before they move away, can they push each other to overcome what’s holding them back? And will allowing themselves to fall in love be the most daring thing of all?

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My Review:

I didn’t know what to expect from this novel when I picked it up. Stories that began on Wattpad get a bad rep, I do remember reading some great ones on the platform but I also remember reading some not-so-great ones. This is one of the great ones.

This novel follows Jonas and Brennan and their journey as they meet the summer before they leave for college. Brennan is dealing with severe anxiety while Jonas is recovering from an accident that took his leg. I enjoyed the way that the two characters met, and the way that their friendship developed throughout the story. Their situations were different, but they could relate to what the other was going through. The characters grew and began to accept things that they couldn’t control. Brennan gained confidence and Jonas came to terms with what had happened to him.

The writing was excellent, the two characters were well-developed and I think the representation was amazing. I can only speak from my experience with anxiety, but I felt that the way Brennan’s anxiety was represented was brilliantly done. From her point of view, you got to see her thoughts and how she processed things that were happening. There was a great quote in the novel where she explains what it’s like when people talk to her about her anxiety:

“She hated when people said it, like it was just her being shy, or nervous, and not something that caused her to lose sleep, to feel sick, and to feel like she couldn’t breathe. They said it like they were characters in a story and it was a word that was italicized, emphasized. Oh. You have anxiety. Like there were air quotes around the word and it wasn’t a real thing.”

Jonas’s struggle and his PTSD was also something that I felt was done quite well. You could see the struggle that he is going through and so while he wasn’t a perfect character everything he did and said made sense. Both characters have their own demons and struggles that they are trying to overcome and I think Good did a great job of representing both the physical and mental toll that these characters are going through.

The novel is a beautiful, heart-wrenching story about two characters and their battles and it is one that I would recommend.

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