My Heart and Other Black Holes

By: Jasmine Warga

Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman

Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

Sixteen-year-old physics nerd Aysel is obsessed with plotting her own death. With a mother who can barely look at her without wincing, classmates who whisper behind her back, and a father whose violent crime rocked her small town, Aysel is ready to turn her potential energy into nothingness.

There's only one problem: She's not sure she has the courage to do it alone. But once she discovers a website with a section called Suicide Partners, Aysel's convinced she's found her solution--a teen boy with the username FrozenRobot (aka Roman), who's haunted by a family tragedy, is looking for a partner.

Even though Aysel and Roman have nothing in common, they slowly start to fill in each other's broken lives. But as their suicide pact becomes more concrete, Aysel begins to question whether she really wants to go through with it. Ultimately,she must choose between wanting to die and trying to convince Roman to live so they can discover the potential of their energy together.

This is a gorgeously written and compulsively listenable novel about the transformative power of love, heralding the arrival of an extraordinary new voice in teen fiction, Jasmine Warga.

©2015 Jasmine Warga (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers

Depressingly Delightful

Aysel feels the dark sludge of depression daily and seeks a friend for the end of the world on a suicide partners' website. The story is honest, real and ultimately hopeful. There's depth to this one, tying together the theories of kinetic and potential energy through a school project, the pact, the future of the hero/heroine, and surrounding family. Well written in an introspective, detailed teen angst manner. Loved it and Rebecca Lowman is amazing.

Will "reread" this on April 7th.

I would definitely "read" this book again and again and again. Amazing characters, amazing story. As expected, the rain washed away all the dirt, but the suspension goes on and on. And finishing this today -April 4th- of all day just make this story comes to life, make me ask myself, where am I in this story? or hundreds of stories like this? I would definitely "read" the last chapter again on April 7th. For all Romans and Aysels.

Love doesn't cure depression just FYI

Okay I just wanna say that I found a few problems with this book. I do not at all like the plot. Falling in love doesn't cure depression, help does. And depression and sadness are very wildly different things. I found myself rooting for the deaths of at least one of the characters at one point or the other. I did like the black slug references, I thought those were clever, but as someone who has had lots of experience with depression I found parts of the book even slightly insulting.

Great Underlying Messages

This novel was a good quick listen and was easy to grasp. The two main characters are a little unlikable at first because they don't even like themselves and are both very depressed/negative. But ultimately their relationship helps them to see each other differently. The narration is some of the best I've heard on audible yet.

What a title!

I was originally drawn to this book by its title and was not disappointed. I got into it and just wanted to keep reading. Very relatable for me on multiple levels.

Great voices - written and performed

This is an amazing book only heightened by a great reading. The characters were very real and sadly familiar.

Wow.

Absolutely beautiful. I couldn't get enough of this story, and I only want to know more about Roman and Aysel.

The story was too unrealistic.

This almost felt like a story written by someone who never faced depression or suicidal thoughts, while some of it seemed accurate, how it all gets wrapped up in the end was not realistic. I wish the main character wouldn't depend so much on Roman when it came to trying to fix herself, instead it would of been nice to see her try to solve her inner demons without this relationship being her reason for looking to gain hope. If she found hope through a heartfelt talk with her sister, or mom, or even her father, it would of felt more real then thinking a boy can solve all your answers or be your ray of hope. I'm not saying they did solve all the answers in the end, you will have to find out by reading it yourself. Overall couldn't put the book down, I just felt that it felt more like a cheesy sitcom then a real life conclusion by the end. Again not saying the ending was happy or sad, I recommend you read this because it was still something worth listening to. Loved a lot of the metaphors too, but sometimes the detail and metaphors were run out too much and I just wanted the author to get on with it haha. Great voice actor as well, she kept me intrigued.

Seeking a Suicide Partner

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

This was definitely a mood-matching book when I was stressed and looking for something angsty and slightly gloomy. I found Aysel to be super relatable when coming from less than awesome parents in a small town.

I wish it ended with a prologue.

Great story. Very emotional and intriguing, and it kept me wanting to finish it so I would know how these two young kids turned out. I wish we got a glimpse into the future to know if they both turn out okay but it still ended in a satisfactory way.