Hold Still

Caitlin's best friend Ingrid has committed suicide and left Caitlin a journal of farewells. Caitlin just can't seem to get over Ingrid's death, and at the beginning this seemed to just kind of get out of hand. Then LeCour introduces Caitlin's new friends Dylan, Dylan's girlfriend, and Caitlin's crush/new friend Taylor. The best part about that though, is that LeCour doesn't make Dylan's sexuality into this huge issue. That is something you don't see very often anymore, and is great when the author has enough class to make the book about the issues the main character is facing and not involve more and more issues just to make the book more interesting. LeCour didn't need to do that, her book was interesting enough on it's own and I really enjoyed reading about Ingrid's last thoughts, words, feelings, etc. Another part I truly loved about this book was how Ingrid and Caitlin had shared a love of photography. While Caitlin thought that Ingrid was a genius and that she herself would never come close, you start to see that maybe she was wrong, maybe she was selling her self much shorter then she should have since her photography teacher is not only grieving for Ingrid as well, but is also trying to tell Caitlin that she can do better, and that she is just plain better then she used to believe. Another part I liked was how through Ingrid Caitlin learned that she had a crush on Taylor, and how to deal with her feelings in ways Ingrid never could. As Caitlin reads more of Ingrid's journal she starts to realize just how insecure and depressed Ingrid really was, and how much Caitlin actually seemed to help her when she could, she starts to see that Ingrid was just beyond help and no matter what nothing could have really saved her, no matter how much Caitlin wishes she could. Overall grade...A-