How It Feels to Float
Publisher
Dial Books
Publication Year
2019
ISBN
9780525554295
Pages
370 pages
Genre
realism
Format
novel
Item Type
Fiction
Annotation
A gutting, profound, deeply hopeful portrayal of living with mental illness and grief, this modern-day Bell Jar marks the arrival of an exceptional new talent in the YA space. Biz knows how to float. She has her people, her posse, her mom and the twins. She has Grace. And she has her dad, who tells her about the little kid she was, who loves her so hard, and who shouldn't be here but is. So Biz doesn't tell anyone anything. Not about her dark, runaway thoughts, not about kissing Grace or noticing Jasper, the new boy. And she doesn't tell anyone about her dad. Because her dad died when she was six. And Biz knows how to float, right there on the surface--normal okay regular fine. But after what happens on the beach--first in the ocean, and then in the sand--the tethers that hold Biz steady come undone. Dad disappears, and with him, all comfort. It might be easier, better, sweeter to float all the way away? Or maybe stay a little longer, find her father, bring him back to her. Or maybe--maybe maybe maybe--there's a third way Biz just can't see yet. In this mesmerizing, radiant debut, Helena Fox tells a story about love and grief and family and friendship, about inter-generational mental illness, and how living with it is both a bridge to someone loved and lost and also a chasm. She explores the hard, bewildering, and beautiful places loss can take us, and honors those who hold us tightly when the current wants to tug us out to sea.
Grade Level
9-12
Lexile Measure
HL630L
Diversity Topics
Family Relationships; LGBTQ (Gender and Sexuality); Disability and Health; Family member death; Single parent; Gay/Lesbian; Mental illness; single mother; death of a parent; death of a father; grief; loss; gay; lesbian; depression; suicidal thoughts and/or tendencies; therapy; teenager with mental illness
Main Character
female teenager
Race/Ethnicities
Multiple
Keywords
photography; cameras; friendship; death; floating; ocean; relationships; struggles; travel; motorcycle; surgery
Diversity Impact
direct
STARS Citation
Fox, Helen, "How It Feels to Float" (2019). Diverse Families. 2172.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/diversefamilies/2172