Tell Me When You Feel Something
Vicki Grant
336 pages
Penguin Teen, 2021
From Goodreads: It seemed like a cool part-time program -- being a simulated patient for med school students to practice on. But now vivacious, charismatic Viv lies in a very real coma. Cellphone footage just leads to more questions. What really happened? Other kids suspect it was not an intentional overdose -- but each has a reason why they can't tell the truth.
Through intertwining and conflicting narratives, a twisted story unfolds of trust betrayed as we sift through the seemingly innocent events leading up to the tragic night. Perhaps simulated patients aren't the only people pretending to be something they're not . . .
This book. Let me start out by saying there's nothing fluffy about this book, nothing lighthearted. The book starts with Davida - Viv's friend from the Simulated Patient (SP) program, speaking to police about her friend's overdose. The book doesn't waste any time getting started - the reader is dropped right into the story with minimal context and, on top of that, alternating timelines from multiple points of view. As a result, I found the first half of the book a little confusing and not very compelling. The SP program was interesting to read about, though, and the drama between Viv's parents was so disturbing I kept reading.
By the time I sorted it through my confusion, things changed dramatically. The plot was suddenly raw and powerful and I couldn't put the book down, staying up way later than I should have to finish the book. The police interviews interspersed through the novel supported the plot very well. Do people interviewed by the police in real life always tell the whole truth? Of course not, so why I assumed they would in the book, I don't know. Eventually everything started coming together and making sense to the point where I was practically shaking the book and yelling at the characters.
So a book that started out slow and a little muddled transformed into this captivating reflection on the #metoo movement and all different types of mental health issues. The second half more than makes up for the first half, so I definitely suggest reading this book and hanging in there until the end.
