Damage

In this novel, Austin Reid is the "Pride of the Panthers" on his football team. Ever since his father died of cancer when he was three, he has been secretly suicidal and depressed. He has always been good with the ladies, but now he's finally got the attention of the prettiest girl in town, Heather. Every day after football practice he takes Heather home. But when he starts to wonder about his relationship with his father, things get a little crazy. The cruel drills of his militant football coach don't help either; successfully demonstrating just how intolerant a male can be of weakness. I enjoyed that the book was written in the second person, as it was more interesting that way. I also enjoyed Austin's best friend Curtis, because he knew all along about Heather --- he was good with people. I enjoyed that once I started reading, I couldn't put the book down. I didn't like that the book didn't really have a main event and it just went on and on about Austin's life. I also didn't like that the book mostly took place in his house or at football practice. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book. It grasps your mind and you feel like all events are actually taking place in your life. This is a must-read novel.

This book pulls no punches in describing what it feels like to be clinically depressed. Football hero Austin tries everything he knows to feel better, including hooking up with the beautiful Heather, but he can't shake the nothingness he feels, and it nearly destroys him. I was especially impressed by the book's refusal to bow to typical bibliotherapy answers; Austin doesn't consult a professional or even tell his best friend how he's feeling. Most teens wouldn't, either. DAMAGE tells it like it is, and in so doing, gives readers a way to understand.

The reviewer below seems to have misread the ending of this wonderful book. Austin's problems don't "miraculously disappear." Austin finally faces the fact that he has a problem and takes the first tiny steps toward helping himself. I understand why a teacher or a caring adult would want the book to show Austin taking that next huge step toward healing by seeing a professional therapist of some kind. But please trust the reader. Teenagers are smart enough to know that the end isn't where things stop. With a well-written book, they know enough about the character and situation to project into the future and determine for themselves what path Austin will take.

Having finished "Damage", I can only conclude that the author must have been severely depressed at one point in her life. Nobody could write about the illness so realistically unless she experienced it herself. I know, because I've been there. It looks like everything's going for Austin. He's a football star. He's good-looking and has good friends. He just got a beautiful new girlfriend. But Austin has a secret -- he's depressed. So depressed it's difficult to get out of bed in the mornings. He lies there and stares out the window and thinks about suicide. But he's afraid to tell anyone about his problem, not even his girlfriend Heather, whose father killed himself when she was little. The author never gives a main reason for Austin's depression, which I like, because in my experience depression never has a single cause. You get hints about his dead father, but that's it. Many people might be annoyed by this, but I am not. I like the ending too: Austin tried to tell Heather his problem, but she freaked out, and he ended up opening up to somebody else who had been concerned for him since the very beginning. You get the feeling that Austin's friend is going to help him, and he'll start rising out of the black pit he's in. An excellent novel. A. M. Jenkins tells it like is. I'll be sure to read all of her other books; I just hope they're half as good as "Damage".

I don't know why I picked this book up, but I'm glad I did. This has to be the most intense book I've ever read. Don't let the fact that it's written in second person (y'know, like "You get up and you put on your shoes") scare you off. That only makes you feel like you are right there in Austin's head, looking out. Except Austin is trying to get away from himself, so he has to think of what's happening as happening to someone else, not to him. Lot's of other great characters like Austin's best friend Curtis and his girlfriend Heather who is obsessed with keeping the surface of her life perfect and when she finds out Austin isn't the perfect guy she thought he was, he doesn't fit into her plans. Read this book! I promise you won't be able to put it down.