☾❀Miriam✩ ⋆｡˚'s Reviews > Some Kind of Happiness

“I feel like we are playing the Quiet Game. When you're tired of playing and want to shout out all the words you've been keeping inside you, but you absolutely cannot lose. So instead you sit, and bite down on everything screaming inside you, and wait.”



This is a beautiful and heartbreaking story about a child who suffers from depression, anxiety and panic attacks and struggles to communicate her feelings to others, so instead she finds refuge in an imaginary word of which she writes in her beloved notebook. It's an encouraging tale of love, friendship and family; of a person's journey to accept and learn to love themselves and their own loved ones, still accepting that they are not - and nobody is, really - perfect.



Every family has one; some - like mine - have more than one: the silent child, the sensitive child, the artistic child; the one who doesn't speak much but listens to every word - even the ones which are not spoken. The one you can never lie to, or hide anything from, because they will find out and it will break their heart knowing that you were hiding from them. Why? Is it because they can't be trusted? Is it because there's something wrong with them? And what are they supposed to do with this information that they struggled so much to uncover, but that no one is willing to explain to them because "they will understand it when they get older"? Sometimes those kids grow up and slowly heal, fighting their own battle alone, and when they are adults they stop resenting their parents for the mistakes they made; others don't heal, some don't survive. That is why books like this one are so important: because, once and for all, adults have to understand this simple truth: mental illness is a thing, kids have it too, and there is nothing wrong with it. There is nothing to hide, to be ashamed of, to be scared of. There is, instead, much to talk about together, to make a kid feel safe, creating an environment in which he/she can open up and feel free to share his/her emotions.



That is why I think everybody should read this book: kids, because they will so understand that they are not alone, and adults so that they will understand that their children's struggle is real, and it has a name and that name is not a taboo, it's an illness and, like every other illness, has a cure and a doctor who can help. That is my favourite thing about this book: that the author specified how much of Finley's healing process came from talking to a professional. I wish everybody who was struggling with any kind of mental illness would have the possibility/will to seek professional help.



This story is beautiful, but even more beautiful is the message behind it. You are not alone. ❤ There is a way out. ❤ Be strong. ❤ Ask for help. ❤ Trust your loved ones. ❤ Be yourself. ❤ Live for today, because tomorrow is never known.❤