SuitabookChasing shadows
Swati Avasthi
- Reading
- Read alongside the young person if the violence or grief feels close to home. Pause after the illustrated sections to discuss how images, narration and fantasy alter the emotional effect, without requiring immediate conclusions.
- Themes
- Friendship under pressure: Holly and Savitri respond differently to Corey’s death: Holly pursues revenge, while Savitri tries to support her and fears being left behind. The friendship is treated as important but strained; loyalty and care coexist with concerns about holding on too tightly.
- Grief, trauma and meaning: The girls try to make meaning after a violent death, while Holly remains affected by coma dreams and Savitri struggles with her own needs. The story examines how sudden violence can disrupt a person’s sense of safety and reality, without reducing grief to one uniform response.
- Safety and risk: Freerunning, a shooting and later attempts to find the killer place physical danger alongside the characters’ belief that safety may be uncertain. Risk is presented as both thrilling and destructive; the story appears to question whether courage, fear or revenge can provide reliable protection.
- Worth knowing
- Pay particular attention to violence and harm.