Review: Kiss of Broken Glass

Kiss of Broken Glass
Author: Madeleine Kuderick
Publication Date: September 9th 2014        
Publisher: HarperTeen
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

Madeleine Kuderick’s gripping debut is a darkly beautiful and lyrical novel in verse, perfect for fans of Sonya Sones and Laurie Halse Anderson. Kiss of Broken Glass pulses with emotion and lingers long after the last page.
In the next seventy-two hours, Kenna may lose everything—her friends, her freedom, and maybe even herself. One kiss of the blade was all it took to get her sent to the psych ward for seventy-two hours. There she will face her addiction to cutting, though the outcome is far from certain.

When fifteen-year-old Kenna is found cutting herself in the school bathroom, she is sent to a facility for mandatory psychiatric watch. There, Kenna meets other kids like her—her roommate, Donya, who’s there for her fifth time; the birdlike Skylar; and Jag, a boy cute enough to make her forget her problems . . . for a moment

Kiss of Broken Glass is going to be one of those books you either love or hate- not because of the serious issues- cutting the main one, and meeting some other characters who have other addictions- but because of the format. I can't say I loved the format it was written in, but I did appreciate the lyrical side to it, it's quick to read and addicting in itself because it's beautiful.

Kiss of Broken Glass is written in verse, it has different types of poem formats, though it does come across more free verse, and like it I said, is beautiful and addicting, and I pretty much read the whole thing in an hour. I'm usually not into that type of format, I love Poetry but I don't always understand it, and I usually avoid books like that, and I'm really glad I didn't with this one because it's so worth it.

The main topic in Kiss of Broken Glass is cutting, and while it is about cutting, it's also not about cutting. It's more to do with peer pressure and what some people do to fit in. Kiss of Broken Glass highlights the differences between cutting, because there are some. Some people cut because of the emotional release. Some people cut because it's the only thing they can do to stop the thoughts going around in your head. People cut because it's psychological, it's a somewhat solution to some because of other issues in their lives. But in here, our main character, Kenna cuts because she wanted to fit in, and the group of 'friends' she surrounded herself with. The popular one of the group started cutting as a thing and the rest followed like it was a trend, trying to outdo one another with their scars  and for Kenna to fit in, they basically handed her a shard and told her to cut. And she did. To fit in. And she got addicted. She didn't start cutting because of any other issues, she started cutting because of peer pressure, and that both angers me and makes me want to shake her to tell her to wake up while wanting to hug her too. I'm a little disappointed in the way that side of things was handled, and the way her family handled it, but on the other hand, it's letting you get in the head of a cutter in an in-depth way that's not overwhelming, it's actually funny in some places.

Kenna gets caught cutting in school by one of her 'friends', and she get's hold onto a psychiatric ward involuntary for seventy-two hours, we don't meet many other characters, only a few that makes an impression, and in there you also see the other versions of self-harming. It doesn't go into many of the others reasons, just little bits to piece together the whys.

It's an insightful view on a touchy subject, because I know people who cut, but in a Kiss of Broken Glass, maybe it was the format and way it was written that stopped me from connecting to it more, that's my only issue.

 

Rating: 3/5