Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE:  Turn the World Upside Down

AUTHOR:  Nyrae Dawn

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

LENGTH:  200 pages

RELEASE DATE:  October 15, 2019

BLURB:

They’d have to turn the whole world upside down to understand us…

Hunter Donovan’s temper never used to be a problem. He lived the perfect life with the perfect family before the dark truth came spilling out. Now his dad’s in prison, and after Hunter explodes at school, accidentally hitting a teacher, his mom has him sent to an inpatient program.

Hunter doesn’t belong at Better Days. He needs to be stronger, not sent to a well-dressed loony bin. If he’d been better, less selfish, he would have realized something was going on under his own roof. No amount of psychoanalyzing and group therapy can change the past.

But among the bullies, fights, and bad cafeteria food, Hunter meets a group of friends: anxiety-ridden Casey, wild and exciting Rosie, Bethany fighting her demons that don’t want her to eat, and Stray, a self-harmer who doesn’t think he belongs anywhere. Around this group of misfits, Hunter doesn’t feel so alone and angry anymore.

Still, as he’s making friends and falling in love with Stray, the guilt is always there. If Hunter can’t open up and find a way to deal with what happened, he might fall victim to his mental illness—and he won’t be the only casualty.

Trigger warning: This book deals with mental illness in many capacities: eating disorders, anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicide and more. There are also mentions of past sexual abuse of a side character. Read with caution and please read the Dear Reader letter before continuing.

REVIEW:

Turn the World Upside Down is an extraordinary book that will take up residence in your heart and haunt you for days. It examines a group of teenagers struggling to grow up while mired in mental illness. It’s a sweet love story, but so much more. It’s about how love can help heal us. How love sometimes can’t reach us. And how sometimes love just isn’t enough. The book is heartbreakingly raw and real. Kids’ problems may seem deceptively simple but when internalized and distorted by wildly conflicting emotions, and complicated by youth and inexperience, they can become a festering wound. Whether it’s depression, anxiety, anger, feeling less than or not fitting in, it can become insurmountable.  

This is Hunter’s story: he’s a sixteen-year-old boy whose family was recently shattered when it was discovered his sister was being harmed. He feels guilty and angry, believing he could’ve helped her. He’s stricken with self-hatred and episodes of violent rage. When he arrives at Better Days “residential treatment facility” he’s alone and angry but is soon enfolded into a cadre of four other residents: Stray, the beautiful boy who self-harms because no one has ever loved or wanted him; Casey, who is tormented with debilitating anxiety and wouldn’t be able to survive Better Days without his friends; Rosie, the irrepressible girl who strives to keep everyone’s spirits up; and fragile Bethany, who’s struggling with an eating disorder. 

Maybe everyone else has it right. They shouldn’t turn the world upside down for us. No matter what we do, we’ll never fit. We’ll always be a mess. 

Nyrae Dawn does a superb job not only with her complex character development but world building, as well. It’s not difficult to visualize the whole facility given the skill with which Ms. Dawn crafts her world. She creates the framework while allowing enough space for the reader to engage their own imagination. I can see the squeaky-clean institutional floors, the barren dorm rooms, and the attempts at overly cheerful decor. I can picture the slump-shouldered children, weary with mental and emotional exhaustion from therapy. I can smell the fresh hay in the stable and the questionable food odors in the cafeteria. I feel the desperation and utter sadness rolling off the kids in waves while their facial expressions drip with disdain. In my version of Better Days, there is false bravado, clinginess, averted eyes, arms crossed in defiance, and tears streaking down faces in rivulets.  

But let’s talk about the love story of Hunter and Stray (self-named because he has no parents and nobody wants him). Hunter’s new friendships at Better Days serve as a balm that helps him do the hard work required for healing. But no one more than Stray. The boys want to get better for themselves but they also want to be better for each other so they can hang on to their love once they’re back home. Their relationship develops slowly. There’s attraction early on, but there’s only so much they can do when being monitored nearly 24/7. There’s nothing but kissing, but that makes it tender, tentative, innocent and oh, so lovely.  

I say, “I don’t think I’d want to be in a world without you in it,” because he’s honest and loyal and loves horses and has freckles. I like everything about him. 

I enjoyed how the bond between the boys is portrayed when they each lie on the bathroom floor at night, on either side of the shared wall between their rooms. When one’s distressed, the other knocks on the wall quietly to let him know he’s there for support. It’s such a lovely gesture to have included in the narrative. 

Turn the World Upside Down is a compelling and powerful book that had me in tears. Not everyone gets a happy ending, sadly, but Hunter and Stray are bestowed with a surprisingly happy for now ending. There’s hope for Hunter and Stray, not just as a couple but as individuals who are now working hard on their recoveries. 

Thank you for this special book, Ms. Dawn. 

RATING: 

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon