Heidi Cullinan – Carry the Ocean (The Roosevelt #1)

Május számos országban a mentális betegségek hónapja és a mai napon van a Homofóbia elleni világnap, ezért azt hiszem, nem is választhattam volna tökéletesebb napot arra, hogy írjak nektek erről a csodálatos könyvről. Remélem, hogy sokan a kezetekbe veszitek majd, és abban is bízom, hogy valamelyik kiadó egyszer elhozza majd nekünk magyar nyelven is.

Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month and today is the International Day Against Homophobia, I think I couldn’t find a more perfect day to introduce you this amazing book. I hope many of you will pick it up and read it!

Synopsis

Normal is just a setting on the dryer. 

High school graduate Jeremey Samson is looking forward to burying his head under the covers and sleeping until it’s time to leave for college. Then a tornado named Emmet Washington enters his life. The double major in math and computer science is handsome, forward, wicked smart, interested in dating Jeremey—and he’s autistic.

But Jeremey doesn’t judge him for that. He’s too busy judging himself, as are his parents, who don’t believe in things like clinical depression. When his untreated illness reaches a critical breaking point, Emmet is the white knight who rescues him and brings him along as a roommate to The Roosevelt, a quirky new assisted living facility nearby.

As Jeremey finds his feet at The Roosevelt, Emmet slowly begins to believe he can be loved for the man he is behind the autism. But before he can trust enough to fall head over heels, he must trust his own conviction that friendship is a healing force, and love can overcome any obstacle.

Warning: Contains characters obsessed with trains and counting, positive representations of autism and mental illness, a very dark moment, and Elwood Blues.

Véleményem a könyvről

Egyszerre nagyon aranyos és mégis komoly volt ez a könyv, amely egy autista fiú és egy depresszióval küzdő srác történetét mutatta be. Ez egy történet első szerelemről, barátságról, felnőtté válásról, önmagunk megtalálásáról és mentális betegséggel való küzdelemről. A szívem minden egyes darabját ellopta ez a könyv.

Emmet egy 19 éves, magasan funkcionáló autizmussal elő fiú, aki a Tucson Egyetem hallgatójaként számítástechnikát és fizikát tanul. Szereti a vonatokat, a számokat, az esőt és főként szereti a vonatsínek túloldalán élő fiút. Jeremy végzős gimnazista, de problémái miatt utolsó gimnáziumi évét otthon kell befejeznie. Klinikai depresszióval és szorongással küzd, de szülei foggal-körömmel próbálnak úgy tenni, mintha minden rendben lenne vele, így csatáit egyedül kell megvívnia minden egyes nap minden percében. Egészen addig, amíg nem találkozik Emmet-tel, aki megmutatja neki, hogy nincs egyedül.

Hihetetlenül szemfelnyitó és csodálatos volt ez a történet. Minden percét imádtam. Emmet és Jeremy mindketten kiemelkedő és komplex karakterek voltak, és Emmet minden idők egyik kedvenc szereplőjévé vált számomra. Kedves, különleges, odaadó fiú és csodálatos volt, ahogy megmutatta Jeremy-nek, hogy a betegsége ellenére ő is tökéletes a maga módján. Jó volt látni, ahogy mindketten megtanulnak a saját lábukon állni, és ahogy egymást segítve elindulnak az önálló élet útján. Nagyon jó volt az Emmet és Jeremy szülei közötti kontraszt, tetszettek a Carly hangja  és Carly’s Café utalások a könyvben, és nagyon a szívemhez nőtt az egyik mellékszereplő, David karaktere is, aki további mélységet tudott adni a történetnek.

Komoly témákat érintett ez a könyv, amely megmutatta, hogy bárki lehet tökéletes attól, hogy első pillantásra nem illeszkedik bele a társadalom által elvárt, átlagos skatulyába, és olykor a legszokatlanabb páros egészíti ki egymást a legjobban. Nagyon örülök, hogy elolvastam ezt a történetet, és mindenképpen ajánlom!

My Review in English

Carry the Ocean is a beautiful story about an autistic boy and one with clinical depression. It’s about first love, friendship, growing up, finding ourselves and living with mental illness. It stole every piece of my heart.

Emmet is 19-year-old Tucson University student, who studies Computer Science and Physics and who has high functioning autism. He loves trains, and numbers and rain and he also loves the boy across the train tracks. Jeremey is a senior at high school but he has to finish his last year at home because he has issues. He has clinical depression and anxiety but his parents are desperately trying to pretend that everything is normal with him, so he has to fought this war alone, suffering every minute of every day. Until he meets Emmet, who shows him that he is not alone.

This book was so incredibly eye-opening and amazing. I loved every minute of it. Emmet and Jeremey are both outstanding and really complex characters. Emmet is one of my most favorite characters of all time. He is kind and unique and caring and it was amazing how he showed Jeremey that despite of his illness he is perfect on his own way. It was so great to watch how they learn to stand on their own feet and how they start an independent life with helping each other on the road. The contrast between the parents of Emmet and Jeremey was excellent and I also loved one of the side characters, David who was able to add an even more depth to the story. I also found great the several references of Carly’s Cafe.

This story dealt with some really important subject matters and it showed us that everyone can be perfect even when they don’t fit in a box and that sometimes the most unusual pair complement each other the best. I’m so glad I read this book and I highly recommend it!

My Favorite Quotes From the Book

“It’s like Elwood Blues says: everybody needs somebody to love. I’m an everybody. I get a somebody.”

“Everyone’s different. Some people are more able to shove their differences into the dark, to blend in and be sheep, but that isn’t always a good thing.”

“That’s my ocean. I have to pretend as best I can to be like people on the mean so people don’t call me a robot. I’m not a robot. I’m real and I have feelings the same as everyone else. And I want a boyfriend. Except my ocean doesn’t make me want to be dead. It makes me want to fight. I want you to fight too, Jeremey. I want us to carry our oceans together.”

“I’d rather be a sheep than be alone.” 
“But that’s the big secret. The sheep are more alone than everyone.”

“This year I learned I’m good at feelings. Emmet calls these our superpowers–his are listening and seeing and math and remembering. Mine is feelings. I can tell what everyone is feeling all the time, and I almost feel it with them. So I have to be careful, because if there are too many feelings around me at once, I get overwhelmed . . . There is nothing wrong with me and who I am, but I do have depression and anxiety, and they’re both pretty severe . . . They’re real things. They’re invisible to everyone but me . . . I have to fight every day, and some days I can’t win.”

Five- Superpowers – Stars

About the Author

Heidi CullinanHeidi Cullinan has always enjoyed a good love story, provided it has a happy ending. Proud to be from the first Midwestern state with full marriage equality, Heidi is a vocal advocate for LGBT rights. She writes positive-outcome romances for LGBT characters struggling against insurmountable odds because she believes there’s no such thing as too much happy ever after. When Heidi isn’t writing, she enjoys cooking, reading, playing with her cats, and watching television with her family. Find out more about Heidi at heidicullinan.com.

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