What do you think?
Rate this book
Liebt mich!
"Ich mag den Schmerz." Nur beim Ritzen spürt Sophie sich, nur so kann sie ihre Sehnsucht nach Familie aushalten. Dann begegnet sie der Therapeutin Helen Marshall. Helen, die ihr zuhört. Helen, für deren Nähe sie alles geben würde. Helen, die sie retten muss. IHRE Helen. Immer stärker gerät Sophie in einen Teufelskreis aus Abhängigkeit und Zurückweisung. Bis Matt eingreift. Er liebt Sophie. Vorbehaltlos, aufrichtig, geduldig. Ganz allmählich lernt sie, ihm zu vertrauen - und sich selbst. Eine Geschichte, die unter die Haut geht.
240 pages, Paperback
First published October 15, 2008
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 5, 2009
This was a raw, raw read. Sophie's story is a gruelling exploration into how a person's pain can manifest in many ways. Sophie's been neglected and abandoned her entire life and it has left her perspective permanently skewed. Her way of dealing with the pain - cutting.
Bates details her protagonist's dovetail with clarity and subtlety. She succeeded in making Sophie's choices understandable but there were times where I wanted to slap some sense into the girl. Her roommates are understanding to the utmost point, I am not sure how anyone could be with the mood swings, depression and the shower scene. Yet it's still grounded in truth. Having a crush on someone completely unattainable, the need to be loved and hope are all universal. However, this story shows how these universal truths can be warped when a person's been robbed of the simple things many of us take for granted - unconditional love, stability and comfort.
It would be easy to make Sophie the cliched "crazy" and while she does have her issues, she possessed great empathy, understanding and insight in other's lives. It's sad to see all that stripped away as her obsession sets in. Her single mindedness is incredulous at times, polarising at others and yet we understand where she's coming from.
Unfortunately cutting is becoming more prevalent in society, or maybe we're just all more aware of it. This book takes you into the murky reasoning for self-harm and in Sophie's case it's all about the emotional release. The relief. I think what I liked the most was there was a distinct lack of a pretty red bow tying everything together. Life isn't divided into chapters that can be nicely separated from one another and this book doesn't resolve everything either. Threads were left hanging and that really appealed to me, it added to the reality of this story - Sophie's story. Crossing the Line was written with great care by Di Bates and I highly recommend it.
Bates details her protagonist's dovetail with clarity and subtlety. She succeeded in making Sophie's choices understandable but there were times where I wanted to slap some sense into the girl. Her roommates are understanding to the utmost point, I am not sure how anyone could be with the mood swings, depression and the shower scene. Yet it's still grounded in truth. Having a crush on someone completely unattainable, the need to be loved and hope are all universal. However, this story shows how these universal truths can be warped when a person's been robbed of the simple things many of us take for granted - unconditional love, stability and comfort.
It would be easy to make Sophie the cliched "crazy" and while she does have her issues, she possessed great empathy, understanding and insight in other's lives. It's sad to see all that stripped away as her obsession sets in. Her single mindedness is incredulous at times, polarising at others and yet we understand where she's coming from.
Unfortunately cutting is becoming more prevalent in society, or maybe we're just all more aware of it. This book takes you into the murky reasoning for self-harm and in Sophie's case it's all about the emotional release. The relief. I think what I liked the most was there was a distinct lack of a pretty red bow tying everything together. Life isn't divided into chapters that can be nicely separated from one another and this book doesn't resolve everything either. Threads were left hanging and that really appealed to me, it added to the reality of this story - Sophie's story. Crossing the Line was written with great care by Di Bates and I highly recommend it.
December 5, 2012
From the description I thought this novel (it's Australian, btw) was going to be a novel about a predatory therapist who takes advantage of their troubled teen patient; this was not so.
Sophie was born to a drug-addict mother and an unknown father. From age five or so she was raised by her aunt and uncle, but eventually transitioned into a series of foster homes. At 17 she was allowed to live independently in a flat with two roommates, getting an allowance from the state and finishing her senior year of high school. In large part because of her history of being repeatedly abandoned, Sophie was seriously troubled and wound up being hospitalized for suicidal ideation.
Her therapist at the hospital seems professional enough to me, but Sophie had been neglected so much that she was like a love sponge and mistook the therapeutic relationship for something more. After she left the hospital she started stalking the woman, even sneaking into her house and spending the night there (hidden, unbeknownst to anyone). Of course the therapist firmly rejected her multiple times, as well she should have, but it only caused Sophie to have more depression and self-hatred.
This is, I think, an excellent depiction of what can happen when transference goes too far. I really liked this book. My only complaint -- and it is a significant one -- is that Sophie's roommates, particularly Matt, were way too perfect. They were incredibly patient with her and accepting, no matter how outrageous her behavior got, and they didn't even know her very well. Such people exist, of course, but they're hard to pull off credibly in fiction.
Sophie was born to a drug-addict mother and an unknown father. From age five or so she was raised by her aunt and uncle, but eventually transitioned into a series of foster homes. At 17 she was allowed to live independently in a flat with two roommates, getting an allowance from the state and finishing her senior year of high school. In large part because of her history of being repeatedly abandoned, Sophie was seriously troubled and wound up being hospitalized for suicidal ideation.
Her therapist at the hospital seems professional enough to me, but Sophie had been neglected so much that she was like a love sponge and mistook the therapeutic relationship for something more. After she left the hospital she started stalking the woman, even sneaking into her house and spending the night there (hidden, unbeknownst to anyone). Of course the therapist firmly rejected her multiple times, as well she should have, but it only caused Sophie to have more depression and self-hatred.
This is, I think, an excellent depiction of what can happen when transference goes too far. I really liked this book. My only complaint -- and it is a significant one -- is that Sophie's roommates, particularly Matt, were way too perfect. They were incredibly patient with her and accepting, no matter how outrageous her behavior got, and they didn't even know her very well. Such people exist, of course, but they're hard to pull off credibly in fiction.
August 29, 2020
This started off as a three-star read. Easy to read, pretty quick, there wasn't as much depth to the characters and relationships as I would have liked. The issues touched on were done relatively well, and Sophie was written sympathetically.
What made me really annoyed though (from my psychologist perspective) was how useless her psych was. Sophie's behaviours were all quite understandable, given her experience, and even after her therapist heard about her inappropriate attachment to the psych she saw while in hospital, why would he not start talking to her about her difficulties with attachment and building relationships?? It should've been pretty obvious to every professional what was going on for Sophie. I was also disappointed by her hospital psych's response to Sophie. It's fine to be firm with boundaries but she didn't even try to help Sophie understand where it was coming from.
Maybe it's me being sensitive to portrayals of psychs that make them look unhelpful. Especially when it's both of them in the book. But that aspect could have been done a lot better, and led to a deeper exploration about attachment and love.
What made me really annoyed though (from my psychologist perspective) was how useless her psych was. Sophie's behaviours were all quite understandable, given her experience, and even after her therapist heard about her inappropriate attachment to the psych she saw while in hospital, why would he not start talking to her about her difficulties with attachment and building relationships?? It should've been pretty obvious to every professional what was going on for Sophie. I was also disappointed by her hospital psych's response to Sophie. It's fine to be firm with boundaries but she didn't even try to help Sophie understand where it was coming from.
Maybe it's me being sensitive to portrayals of psychs that make them look unhelpful. Especially when it's both of them in the book. But that aspect could have been done a lot better, and led to a deeper exploration about attachment and love.
January 2, 2024
My therapy bill will be mailed to the author...
October 6, 2010
In "Liebt mich!" geht es um Vieles, Hauptthema hier ist aber Stalking - und zwar aus der Sicht der Stalkerin. Es ist ein klassisches Jugendbuch (etwa ab 14). Für mich sehr einmalig, da es meiner Erkenntnis nach keinen bekannten Roman gibt, der sich mit Stalking komplett aus der Sicht des Täters beschäftigt. In den 240 Seiten erzählt Sophie wunderbar klar und flüssig ihre Geschichte, mit allen Klar- und Unklarheiten. Für mich waren alle Handlungen sehr nachvollziehbar, nach und nach steckt man in Sophies Leben und Gedankenwelt. Lesenwert, um mal einen anderen Blick auf das Thema zu werfen.
February 11, 2012
I picked up this book because it was sitting next to mine on the shelf at the library! It was an engaging read, and Ms Bates handles the plot and character development well. It's agonising watching Sophie appearing to "get better" on the surface, when inside we know she is getting worse and worse with every day.
In the end, I am left wondering, who REALLY crossed the line in this story.
In the end, I am left wondering, who REALLY crossed the line in this story.
July 23, 2010
This book is about a girl Sophie who goes from one foster home to another. and she ends up in a psych ward??? whats up with that?
January 29, 2011
An interesting look at teenage mental illness - with a very frustrating main character!
August 27, 2010
Not as good as I'd hoped.
The whole thing with Heather was just really awkward and weird....
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews