SuitabookHow to be brave
E. Katherine Kottaras
- Reading
- Consider reading together or checking in afterwards if bereavement, family grief or substance experimentation feels close to home. You could also invite your reader to talk about how Georgia’s choices affect her friendships.
- Themes
- A list as a story structure: Georgia turns her mother’s advice into a list of experiences, from learning to draw to asking out her crush, and tests whether completing it is helping her. The list gives the novel a clear framework for Georgia’s experiments and reflection; it is not simply presented as a guaranteed route to feeling better.
- Grief and family relationship: Georgia and her father face her mother’s death while he is absorbed in their struggling restaurant and Georgia tries to express what she needs. The family’s grief and communication difficulties are part of Georgia’s experience, without a clear evaluative judgement about either character’s response.
- Worth knowing
- Bereavement and family strain are central. The story also includes frequent strong profanity, scenes involving marijuana, cigarettes and alcohol, brief kissing, and a friend’s plan to have sex; that event is not described.