November 28, 2014: 'This Song Will Save Your Life'

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Date: November 28, 2014

Spoilers Ahead

Headline

This Song Will Save Your Life

Leila Sales

Making friends has never been Elise Dembowski’s strong suit. All throughout her life, she’s been the butt of every joke and the outsider in every conversation. When a final attempt at popularity fails, Elise nearly gives up. Then she stumbles upon a warehouse party where she meets Vicky, a girl in a band who accepts her; Char, a cute, yet mysterious disc jockey; Pippa, a carefree spirit from England; and most importantly, a love for DJing.

Told in a refreshingly genuine and laugh-out-loud funny voice, THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE is an exuberant novel about identity, friendship, and the power of music to bring people together. 

City Calendar:

This is what happened during the week.

Elise goes to her first day at school attempting to be a new person. She fails, ending up ridiculed. She almost kills herself. She is saved by 'friend' Amelia Kindl. Time passes. Elise goes out one night and finds a club called Start. She leaves quickly, leaving the people who let her in Vicky and Pippa behind. She goes to school and decides to go to Start again. She waits until she finds it a week later. She dances with Char the DJ. Thursday comes. She goes to the club and DJs while Char takes a drunk Pippa away. She goes to Char's house and learns how to DJ. She starts to DJ at Start as a guest DJ. She goes shopping with Vicky to get DJ clothes. She DJs and meets Vicky's hand Dirty Curtains. She kisses Char. At school, she discovers someone made a fake blog about her and her suicide attempt. She hangs out with Vicky more. She stays at Char's place, kissing him and sleeping in his bed until sunrise. One day, she sees Emily, Ashley, and Petra. She demands them to leave and makes Char get Mel the bouncer to take the three girls out. A freshman, encouraged by Elise's friends Sally and Chava, asks Elise to the summer dance, but Elise declines. She is offered a chance to be officially DJing by the manager. Pippa comes back and blames Elise for kissing Char. Char and Elise 'break up'. Elise talks to Vicky, Mel, and Harry about the truth. She rips her younger sister Alex's poetry castle, believing she will protect her sister by being ordinary. She is banned from her Mom's house and grounded. Sally and Chava drive Elise to Start when she intends to give Char her party on Friday. She is caught by her dad who found out about the 'diary'. Together with her family, Elise tries to find the culprit. She finds out Marissa an artist and friend of Amelia's did it. She talks to some people about Start during lunch. Emily tells Elise that she told the vice-principal who made the blog. Elise goes to Alex's fair and tries to apologize but isn't forgiven. After, her family goes to a pizza place. Elise sees Char there. She decides to DJ the Friday party. She DJs, and the Dirty Curtains play a set. Pippa and Elise talk about Char, and Elise is forgiven. Elise asks Harry to the dance. He agrees. The song that was playing stops because of a lose wire. The people keep singing, though. Elise fixes the wire, and the party keeps going. 

And that's what happened this week.

Personal Ads:

Elise.

DJ. Used to hate life. Starts to accept life and being extraordinary. Loves music. Tried to be 'cool'. Funny. Not entirely caring and understanding. Thinks that special is 'bad' but that changes. Looking for acceptance and understanding the truth. 

Opinions:

This is a book that I thought I wouldn't like. The letters that are highlighted on the cover spells out love. Which is something I don't particularly like. And I've heard that this is a romance. It's not.

I like that this book has life-changing choices. Elise attempts to kill herself. She makes choices that could make or break the rest of her life. These choices affect her in many ways. She decides to DJ. She decides to leave the house at late night and DJ. This can reveal things to readers. Especially young adults. It shows that choices affect your life. I think that's a good lesson to learn. Getting good grades. Pursuing what you love. These things will change you. They will affect you. It's easier to see it in a book character. 

I also like the real problems. The real problems make you understand. This world focuses on perfection. But that is unattainable. Books portray imperfection perfectly. This book does it well. This book shows low self esteem in a different light. Low self esteem can lead to depression and anxiety. It just depends on who you talk to. This shows the world about the real problems in an understandable format. 

Elise is a relatable character. She has emotional problems like other people. She feels like she's useless. She feels like she has to be ordinary. Other people think that. I know some. Some have felt useless. Some want to die. Some attempted suicide. Some think they're attention seekers. This is one of the main reasons that I like this book. Elise is relatable. And her change is amazing. She starts to feel loved and useful. That's important in life. Feeling useful, I mean. 

The problem with this book is that it does have romance. The romance is lackluster. It doesn't pull me in. As I usually do, I'll bring up the argument of why they came together. Only on Elise's end, though. I know why Char wanted to be with Elise. Char wanted to be on top. He wanted to curb Elise. He wanted to be in control. But Elise? Did she just like the allure of a DJ she only met on Thursday nights? I'm not sure. They were just kissing. A lot. Not a lot of romance which is good, though. 

Char is also simply annoying. I can say that I do hate Char. He's controlling everyone. He let Elise play because he thought she wasn't good enough to overtake him. I hate those types of characters. If people deceive for a good reason, I won't mind too much. But Char was deceiving and lying and manipulating. On purpose. I hate that.

Weather:

Sunny with a 20% chance of rain 

4/5