YA-AHOLIC BOOK BLOG: Review: My Beautiful Failure by Janet Ruth Young

Review: My Beautiful Failure by Janet Ruth Young

Title: My Beautiful Failure
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Details: 320 pages, released November 13th 2012
Source: Bought

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A haunting account of a teen boy who volunteers at a suicide hotline and falls for a troubled caller.

Billy is a sophomore in high school, and twice a week, he volunteers at Listeners, a suicide hotline.

Jenney is an incoming caller, a girl on the brink.

As her life spirals out of control, Jenney's calls become more desperate, more frequent. Billy, struggling with the deteriorating relationship with his depressed father, is the only one who understands. Through her pain, he sees hope. Through her tears, he feels her heart. And through her despair, he finds love. But is that enough?

Acclaimed author Janet Ruth Young has written a stunning and powerful story with no easy answers; it is about pain and heartbreak, reality and illusion, and finding redemption and the strength to forgive in the darkest of times.
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Billy is a sophomore in high school who has just joined as a volunteer for Listeners, a suicide hotline. On his first day he talks to a girl named Jenney, Jenney is close to breaking under the stress of her abusive parents and failing social life. The more Billy talks to Jenney the more he feels like he is falling for her, that he understands her for who she really is because he is having major family issues of his own, but Jenney’s calls are becoming more frantic and more frequent. Can Billy save someone he’s never met?

My Beautiful Failure was such a beautiful book, it had strong friendships, broken families, grief, struggle, mental disorders, depression, and love. It was a book that really made you think, and a book that had surprisingly a lot of mystery. Throughout the novel I found myself wondering, what is going to happen to Billy’s dad, is he going to fall back into his severe depression? Is Jenney crazy? Is Billy in love with Jenney, or just the idea of her? There were so many questions that would arise while reading that I felt I had to keep reading and find out what was going on.

My Beautiful Failure had a strong cast of characters. Even though I didn’t know much about Billy and Jenney besides the struggles they were going through I still felt a strong connection to both of them. Even with just hearing about the struggles they were going through I found myself seeing how strong and caring both of them were, which made me feel sad for them because no matter how kind they would be to the world, they wouldn’t get the kindness in return. Gordy who is Billy’s best friend was a character I also adored, he is probably one of the best ‘best friend’ roles I have ever read in a book, he isn’t a main character by any means, but he was so understanding of Billy and just overall an amazing friend. A few characters I found myself detesting was Billy’s family, his dad was selfish, his sister Linda was a spoiled brat, and his mom was absent. Billy’s family is a huge part in what made this book what it is, but I still could not stand any of them.

In the end My Beautiful Failure was one of the more beautiful and heart breaking books I have read to date. This is a book I would recommend to anyone looking for a YA contemporary that is heavier than most, this book deals with a lot more serious issues, and is not a book that will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy inside. It is still worth the read, and I must say this book will easily make it into my favorite reads of 2014.

"On my good days, few can defeat me." - Jenney page 1

In a few days I would start saving lives. But only if they wanted to be saved. - Billy pg 29

"I hate to drag anyone down" - "Drag me where ever you want. That's what I'm here for" -Jenney and Billy pg 172

"Goodnight, sweet Hallmark prince." -Jenney pg 183