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Dec 16, 2011

Aly (Fantasy4eva) rated it:

Dear Jayson,
Why don't you love me yet?

“The sun stopped shining for me is all. The whole story is: I am sad. I am sad all the time and the sadness is so heavy that I can't get away from it. Not ever. <-- From Ingrid's Diary.

I love the cover! *pets book* Isn't it just gorgeous? ;)

I think I had such a good feeling about this book for such a long period of time, that I was bound to be disappointed in some way or the other. Don't worry, though. It had some ver More...

4 comments like (7 people liked it)

Feb 07, 2011

Janina rated it:

This was the third book I read about suicide in a short amount of time (and the second in a row), and it was the one that touched me most on an emotional level. Nevertheless, I think I’ll now move on to some lighter topics ;). I can only take that much …

Hold Still is a quiet, but noteworthy book. It tells the story of Caitlin, whose best friend Ingrid commits suicide. The only thing she leaves behind for Caitlin is her last journal, with drawings and entries that speak of depression, l More...

5 comments like (8 people liked it)

Aug 04, 2011

Amanda rated it:

This book is about suicide. Caitlin’s best friend, Ingrid, kills herself, and suddenly Caitlin doesn’t know how to live anymore. She’s frozen in time. The past is too painful to look back at, the future is too uncertain.

I don’t want to say much more about the plot, but there is a diary involved. That sounds a little cliched when I put it like that, but it doesn’t feel that way in the book. For one, I don’t believe the diary helps Caitlin heal any. It actually seems to make her feel wor More...

1 comment like (7 people liked it)

Sep 26, 2011

Linna rated it:

Stories about suicide aren’t the type that I’d pick up right off the bat– it can feel like I’m just being manipulated if the plot is nothing but grief and pain. And so when I saw HOLD STILL sitting on the YA shelf of the library, I glanced at it briefly before putting it back down. Which was a mistake, because this book is beautifully written and achingly gorgeous, and the ultimate message (I hesitate on calling it a ‘message’, because you don’t just come across messages in real life, and Caitli More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 12, 2011

Emily Christine rated it:

This book was very sad, but it was also a very satisfying read. The main character is believable, and real. You feel everything that she goes through. You never do meet the deceased best friend, Ingrid, but from her journal entries, you can feel how broken she was. This is a very important book and I believe that it should actually be taught in schools.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 08, 2011

Stefanie rated it:

I feel like I've read a lot of suicide books now. Books where the main character is dealing with the aftermath of a loved one's act of committing suicide. And, ya know, the thing I think that draws me to these books is that it's such a real and raw affect that the author creates. I feel like it's a feeling you can't fake. I love the authenticity of that.
Hold Still was no different. The tone was so real, so not forced. Caitlin felt normal to me. She felt like...like how she should when More...

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 28, 2010

elissa rated it:

Beautiful. Both simple and complex, if that makes any sense. Definitely a new writer to watch. Reminds me a little of the writing in Zarr's first book. More like 4 1/2 stars, but I'm rounding up. I love how the gay character is just a character, and not at all an "issue" in this book. The author is gay, and she did an excellent job with that part of it. I see this book's biggest strength as showing just how profoundly different what you see on the outside of a person and what's More...

8 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 29, 2011

Nicole rated it:

This book was a surprise. A good surprise.

Don't be fooled by its emo cover and "sexy" suicide subject matter. This book has depth. Though it doesn't dwell on the morbid slit wrist details, it doesn't shy away from them either. The emphasis is on the practical and emotional repercussions of losing your best friend unexpectedly. Walking through the halls, making new friends, laughing and then feeling guilty for laughing. Caitlin is depressed for most of the book but the writing is More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 15, 2011

Nomes rated it:

I got this after reading oh-so-many stunning reviews. And it's one of my fave reads this year.

I am most astounded with just how deeply I sunk into these pages. Nina LaCour knows teens and she's pitch prefect at capturing them.

I personally not only related to Caitlin, but also to Ingrid (who, wow, she's dead from the outset, but her presence is so keenly felt throughout the pages).

It's beautiful and hopeful and brave and captivating and I wish I could go back to my More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jan 25, 2012

Michelle (FabbityFabBookReviews) rated it:

Why oh why did I put off reading this book for so long? Hold Still sat on my TBR pile for a period of time. After a slew of 'dead best friend' YA lit hit the market- some good, some not so good- I felt like I couldn't or did not want to pick another one up.

But I opened Hold Still and once I started I couldn't let go. This is a beautiful, moving book and gorgeously written. I think LaCour did a wonderful job with this (her debut novel, too!). Dealing with teenage suicide and mental illn More...

0 comments like

Jan 10, 2012

Lumpenprole rated it:

Given that the life and times of adolescent girls is a topic upon which I could speak with no more authority than I could upon Albanian poetry, perhaps this brief review not only pushes the envelope of presumptuousness, it blows through it, reaches escape velocity and ascends out of any sort of attachment to gravity into a vast vacuum of nonsense and ignorance. Perhaps, but this being the Internet I can strut proudly in perfect anonymity, like a Canada goose on a golf course, head held high, hon More...

0 comments like

Jan 08, 2012

Brian rated it:

Recently, I bought the entire collection of novels from Penguin's publishing wing entitled "Point of View" --these are novels dealing head-on with topics many people find difficult to discuss. Having just read and reviewed Thirteen Reasons Why, I picked up Nina La Cour's Hold Still yesterday and could not put it down (I finished it in two sittings)--both of the novels I read in the last 48 hours explore teen suicide. I am working my way through these novels a More...

0 comments like

Jan 06, 2012

Misty rated it:

“Hold Still” is a very unorthodox book. It’s not really all that happy, it’s got chapters of self-deprecation, and several very emotionally damaging messages from a suicidal girl. Now, keeping that in mind, I want to first explain to you my reasons for reading it, I’ll close with reasons I think you should or shouldn’t read it yourself.

Like Caitlin (the main character of this book) I had a friend whom commit suicide in High School, only I handled in horribly. I shut down, I talked to n More...

0 comments like

Jan 05, 2012

Abigail rated it:

Hold still
Hold still is about a girl named Caitlin who lost her Bestfriend to suicide and isn’t sure why or what happened at first till she finds her Bestfriend Ingrids journal.
Caitlin lost her bestfriend Ingrid to suicide no one knew why or what she was going through. Caitlin found Ingrids journal . As time goes by she reads a little at a time. The effect of her bestfriends death takes a toll on Caitlin she feels alone and like no one will ever understand More...

0 comments like

Oct 22, 2011

Anna rated it:

I know most of us haven't experienced a loss of someone very close to us, especially a best friend. But now I get understand how it feels like if ever that situation happens. It may be sad for a very long time, it may be very difficult to cope up with, but I think at some point there's this realization that everything doesn't stop there, but instead it gives you a chance and hope to keep moving forward.

That is what Hold Still is all about. This book talks about Ingrid's suicide and More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 07, 2011

Kvothem rated it:

This is the story of Caitlin in the year after her best friend Ingrid's suicide. It's a moving story of how Caitlin feels empty or hollow inside it's also the story of what it takes for her to find herself again. It affects every relationship she has and all new relationships that form. One of the things that actually help Caitlin is the notebook that Ingrid left behind, shoved under Caitlin's bed apparently on one of her last day's alive. Her parents are at a loss for how to help her, but in th More...

0 comments like

Jun 15, 2011

Mrs. Foley rated it:

This is a Gateway nominee for 2011-2012. It looks at what happens after a close friend commits suicide. Powerful...maybe not quite as much as Thirteen Reasons Why, but this book is more about those who are left to figure out why it happened and how to go on with their own lives.

Review from Publisher's Weekly:
LaCour makes an impressive debut with an emotionally charged young adult novel about friendship and loss. Caitlin begins her junior year in high school bitter and stunned More...

0 comments like

May 09, 2011

Jodi rated it:

I really appreciated Hold Still. I think that it was an accurate and sensitive story about how to move on after your best friend dies. In the case of Caitlin, she is dealing with her grief after her best friend, Ingrid, commits suicide.

Nina LaCour did a very good job at depicting Caitlin's feelings as well as her guilt. The discovery of Ingrid's journal, left intentionally in Caitlin's room, makes it even more difficult for her to move on. She is constantly struggling between wantin More...

0 comments like

Mar 09, 2011

Katie rated it:

There are no words to do justice to how much of an amazingly gorgeous book Hold Still is. Heartbreakingly beautiful, and almost lyrical, it’s a powerful read that took hold of my heartstrings and never let go.

To be honest, there’s nothing special about the plot. Caitlin’s best friend commits suicide and now she’s trying to reel in her grief and figure out why. Before I opened this book, I was thinking “I’ve already this book. Again and again and again,” because it’s kind of common in More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 06, 2011

Elise rated it:

This story feels very true to life. High School Junior, Caitlin, struggles to understand and cope after her best friend Ingrid's suicide. Caitlin is at first shocked and numb. However, soon Caitlin discovers Ingrid's diary which had been intentionally placed underneath her bed the night of the suicide. She learns that Ingrid had been emotionally suffering from a depression much deeper than Caitlin ever knew. So many things Ingrid was afraid to share with Caitlin, are finally revealed through More...

0 comments like

Feb 20, 2011

Emily rated it:

I really loved this book. At first, it reminded me vaguely of Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, just because of the plot: the suicide of a main character who has left behind a part of themselves. However, this book was very different from Thirteen Reasons.
At the beginning of the book, I didn't quite understand Ingrid. I couldn't understand why a seemingly happy girl would just kill herself, similar to Caitlin. But when Caitlin found Ingrid's journal, it opened up an entirely different poi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 26, 2011

Jodi rated it:

I really appreciated Hold Still. I think that it was an accurate and sensitive story about how to move on after your best friend dies. In the case of Caitlin, she is dealing with her grief after her best friend, Ingrid, commits suicide.

Nina LaCour did a very good job at depicting Caitlin's feelings as well as her guilt. The discovery of Ingrid's journal, left intentionally in Caitlin's room, makes it even more difficult for her to move on. She is constantly struggling between w More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 12, 2011

Jessica rated it:

Hold Still was a hard book to read. So so much emotion in it and all of it is just so raw and real. But the journey that takes place is incredible.
My heart hurt for Caitlin. The parts when she is remembering things about Ingrid that were clear signs of her depression and how she kept thinking she could have and should have done something were the hardest.
The only thing I didn't like was Caitlin's parents. A couple times it just felt like they (especially her mom) thought that Caitlin s More...

0 comments like

Dec 29, 2010

greenplanet rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Nov 13, 2010

Reading rated it:

I LOVED this book.

Really, that's all I have to say. I could end the review right here. However, it would be enough to explain how amazing this book was. When I finished it, I wanted to turn to the first page and reread it again.
Hold Still was so beautifully and poetically written.
The storyline was great, it kept me entertained the whole time.
I must warn you, this book is a tear jerker, but its definitely worth it.

I thought all the little t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 25, 2010

Sandy rated it:

A Wonderful, Inspired Novel! October 25, 2010
By Sandy Chao “Mr. Best’s English Class”

Hold still is a novel by Nina LaCour, it deals with what teenagers are thinking and tells readers how important it is to cherish our lives.
Caitlin is a great character that I have enjoyed a lot to get involved with in the novel. She is very easy to like and sympathize with.
Caitlin is completely immobilized after she lost her best friend, Ingrid, which she said she would go whereve More...

0 comments like

Jul 05, 2010

Alisha rated it:

Every once in a while, you read a piece of literature that's told in such a unique way that it ceases to be merely a book and is transformed into a piece of art. Hold Still is one of those amazing books. The story isn't just told, but is brought to life by the voice of Caitlin, the narrator, Ingrid's (Caitlin's best friend) diary entries, and also Ingrid's drawings.

Hold Still tells the story of how Caitlin tries to recover after her best friend, Ingrid commits suicide. Plagued wit More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Apr 18, 2010

Sharon rated it:

This novel follows teen Caitlin's difficult year back at school after the loss from suicide of her best friend, Ingrid. Caitlin's interactions with peers and teachers are often painful, such as the strange withdrawal of her previously adoring photography teacher and acquaintances either insensitively asking how Ingrid killed herself to over-gushing and treating Caitlin better than they ever have before. I feel like LaCour skillfully captured pretty much every awkward reaction, to an extent, that More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 05, 2010

Sarah rated it:

Caitlin should have seen it coming. She should have been able to save her. Her best friend, Ingrid, committed suicide and Caitlin is overcome with guilt about her inability to prevent this tragedy.

Returning to school for her junior year should have provided a sense of normalcy. But her fellow classmates are unsure how to deal with her emotions, and she finds herself lonely, irritable and confused. Caitlin becomes friends with a new student, Dylan, and starts hanging out with her More...

0 comments like

Mar 30, 2010

Jessica rated it:

I was pretty reluctant to pick this book up because it is about suicide. The content is so fragile that I'm always afraid to read books concerned with it because I'm afraid it will be too graphic or too emotional. I want to be able to get through the book, ya know? But I'm also afraid a novel like this won't be strong enough.

However, Hold Still was executed brilliantly. There was enough hope in the novel to keep me reading but still enough pain to break my heart. This was such a real More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)