SuitabookAddiction and recovery
Zach is eighteen, alcoholic and in rehabilitation, while resisting knowledge of how he arrived there and what happened beforehand.
Loading your next page
Book details
Benjamin Alire Sáenz - Author
MacLeod Andrews - Author
A psychologically intense story about recovery, memory and the struggle to understand a painful past. Its focus is Zach’s inner voice and relationships rather than a clearly outlined external adventure.
Zach is eighteen. He is bright and articulate. He's also an alcoholic and in rehab instead of high school, but he doesn't remember how he got there. He's not sure he wants to remember. Something bad must have happened. Something really, really bad. Remembering sucks and being alive—well, what's up with that?I have it in my head that when we're born, God writes things down on our hearts. See, on some people's hearts he writes "Happy" and on some people's hearts he writes "Sad" and on some people's hearts he writes "Crazy" on some people's hearts he writes "Genius" and on some people's hearts he writes "Angry" and on some people's hearts he writes "Winner" and on some people's hearts he writes "Loser".It's all like a game to him. Him. God. And it's all pretty much random. He takes out his pen and starts writing on our blank hearts. When it came to my turn, he wrote. I don't like God very much. Apparently he doesn't like me very much either. Sad.
Book Brief
Sign in to see how this book fits your child and family preferences.
Sign in for personalised guidanceA psychologically intense story about recovery, memory and the struggle to understand a painful past. Its focus is Zach’s inner voice and relationships rather than a clearly outlined external adventure.
Zach is eighteen, alcoholic and in rehabilitation, while resisting knowledge of how he arrived there and what happened beforehand.
Zach is described as living with an alcoholic father, a depressive mother and an abusive brother, and wanting to escape a home that no longer feels like one.
Zach questions whether life is worth engaging with and imagines people receiving fixed qualities from God, including sadness, anger or being a loser.
Expect sustained attention to alcoholism, rehabilitation, despair, nightmares, painful memories and an abusive home environment. The treatment is described as heartbreaking and emotionally powerful, so the overall tone may feel heavy.
This is a grounded book brief while Suitabook strengthens the analysis: the current material supports only a cautious reading; some draft conclusions still depend on unresolved evidence.
Book information
Limited information
Anything not established here remains open; it is not being treated as absent or safe.