The Thing About Jellyfish - Ali Benjamin

[goodreads]

Title: The Thing About Jellyfish
Author: Ali Benjamin
Genre: Childrens/YA
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 352
Date read: September, 2015

After her best friend dies in a drowning accident, Suzy is convinced that the true cause of the tragedy was a rare jellyfish sting. Retreating into a silent world of imagination, she crafts a plan to prove her theory--even if it means traveling the globe, alone. Suzy's achingly heartfelt journey explores life, death, the astonishing wonder of the universe...and the potential for love and hope right next door.


A quick read - I finished it in a day.

"The Thing About Jellyfish" is a sweet childrens/YA story that tackles a difficult subject - how do you cope with grief? Especially if your feelings about the deceased are conflicted.

I liked the way the story was interspersed with facts about jellyfish as well as flashbacks to Suzy's childhood and friendship with Franny. It worked well and gave us the background without resorting to telling rather than showing. I did think there were some things left unanswered or unexplored which pulled the end rating down to 3.5 stars, but as a whole, I enjoyed the book.

And it had was is possibly the best description of what ADHD is like - both with and without medication - that I've ever read. That was both very powerful and very poignant for a non-ADHD sufferer to read and gave me an understanding of it, that I hadn't had earlier.