My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga
Release Date: February 10, 2015
Pages: 320
Rating: 💜💜💜💜
Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository

Physics nerd Aysel and popular Roman are strangers, but they've been drawn into an unthinkable partnership. In one month's time, they plan to commit suicide- together. With the deadline getting closer, something new grows between them and it seems there might be something to live for. But are they in too deep?

Trigger Warnings: Suicide, Depression, PTSD

This book would be a 5 star read if it wasn't for the one event at the end of the book. I loved almost every second of the book, reading it in one sitting. It was fast, fun and thought-provoking read.

I loved the characterisation of Aysel and Roman in this book. Both characters were so much more than their suicide pact, with fleshed out lives and hobbies, something which a lot of mental health books lack. Throughout the whole book you can't help but think 'why do they want to die?' Both Aysel and Roman have lives that seem worth living ,with people who love them and futures ahead of them. And that is the thing with depression. You can have a wonderful live but still have a crippling depression and more people need to know that. The characters' isolation and traumatic situations are what fuel their depression and lead to both of them joining a forum for suicide partners

I was a little wary of the science side of this book, wondering how the physics was going to work with the overall plot. It turned out that the physics part added immeasurable amounts to the story as it was interwoven into the story with philosophical questions. Essentially all Aysel was doing was asking the age-old question of what happens when we die, but she changed the wording to something she can process: what happens to our energy when we die?

The writing in this book was simple but beautiful. The philosophical aspect of this book was easy to understand, even when it was dealing with the great questions of life. And even the physics wasn't had to understand, despite Aysel being a sort of genius in that department.

My only problem with this book came in the last 10% of the whole story, when everything changed. I'm not going to spoil anything because that would ruin the story for anyone who wants to read it, but it had that cliche YA- contemporary ending. It was such a shame because the rest of the novel had great mental health representation and it just fell short at the end.

This book has become one of my favourites (meaning I now need to find a way to Jenga it onto my shelf) despite the fact I only gave it 4 stars. Honestly, it was a five star read for me until the ending, as it was the perfect mixture of dark and funny. One of my favourite reads of the year!