37 Things I Love (In No Particular Order) (review)

Since a construction accident left her father irreversibly comatose and hooked up to machines, Ellis has been drifting through life in the wake of her strong-willed friend Abby. She spends her after-school time visiting her dad in the nursing home, pouring out her troubles to him; when her mother mentions again that it is time to let him go, Ellis is furious. In an attempt to avoid her mother and her own broken heart, she lets Abby talk her into sneaking out to a party, where she reconnects with Cara, an old friend. Ellis' emotional confusion is considerably heightened when both Cara and her brother show a romantic interest in her, with Cara actually making a second-base move. Longing to tell her father, she heads to the nursing home only to find that he has died, and she is finally forced to deal with all of the emotions and relationship problems that she has been deflecting for so long. While her father's death isn't surprising, it plays its part well in this emotionally sensitive look at what's worth keeping and when it's time to let go. Ellis' dysfunctional friendship with Abby is especially well drawn, as Ellis knows full well why she continues to let Abby treat her poorly. Her burgeoning relationship with Cara is carefully motivated; her vulnerability and grief enable Ellis to see in Cara the specific qualities that make Cara a loving partner. Ellis' moments of clear insight are what signal to the reader that she will in fact weather this storm of confusion and loss. She is both utterly ordinary and not, navigating high school relationships in the midst of stunning pain, and she loses and regains perspective in ways that readers will experience as honest and relatable.