Moving On
Losing a friend can be like losing a part of yourself. How would a person go through losing a person and come out smiling? Would you be able to? I dont think i could, but it would be very hard to do. All people have a different way of looking at it. Such as how Catlin, a sophmore in highschool, struggles through the loss of her poor friend Ingrid. She is a character in a book by NIna LaCour called Hold Still, A William C. Morris Debut Award finalist. Throughout reading this you find that when Ingrid kills herself Catlin takes it harder than anyone else. How she decided to deal with it is by pushing everyone away from her which is not helping her get over it only making her feel more alone. Many people try to get her to open up and feel better. First Alicia a girl who Catlin has not talked to since freshman year does not help. Next her friend Taylor tries to help but to anvil. Even her parents can not break through to her. Lastly things only get worse when Mrs. Delani, Caitlin's favorite teacher and the person Ingrid practically shadowed begins ignoring her. All of these people soon just keep drifting away only sometimes checking on her to make sure she is okay, that is except for one new girl named Dylan Schuster.
Dylan is not your typical teenage girl as catlin is not either. This may be part of the reason as to why they become friends. Quickly they begin bonding. They have their lockers in the same area, they ditch school together, and they both do very well in English together. Catlin even meets her friends from her old school and Dylans girlfriend, Maddi. Ingrid seems happy and excited to have new friends. She is comfortable sharing secrets telling stories and is happy to finally just to not be so alone. Though, this all takes a bad turn when Catlins finds Ingrids journal. Of course Ingrid had left this for her she hid it under her bed and she wanted her to read it. Though after she does she regrets it because of what she finds out about Ingrid and how she really felt and that maybe if she had tried harder she would not have killed herself. Everything gets reversed and they have to start over. Eventually though they get her spirits back up finally at the end of the year Dylan help Catlin break into her and Ingrids favorite place in all of town before it is demolished, the run down theatre. They rig up the projector and put up Ingrids pictures from photography class taking pictures of those as her final send off. This to me was the very best part of the book as this is where things are getting back to normal and begin to wind down. Everything seems to work out in the end for her and everyone she once ignored.
So, was this a great book? Definatly. Would i recommend this book to another person? Absolutely, every teen should read this book. This book takes you on an emotional rollercoaster ride full of smiles and frowns, crying and anger, but most importantly regret and hope. This can not be exactly melded to anyone elses story and i know that but it is so easy to relate to. You may not feel it while reading the book. Maybe not even after you have stopped during a part and thinking about it, But the one thing i know is this book leaves you with “an expression that is hard to pin down- part longing, part sorrow, and part hope” (LaCour 229).