A Review of the Themes of Mental Health In Ann Fraistat's, A Place For Vanishing By Jax Taylor
Ann Fraisat’s, A Place For Vanishing, follows main characters Libby and Vivi as they uncover secrets about their anything but ordinary house. As the story progresses, themes such as suicide, mental health, and tragedy arise, tossing new challenges at the characters, especially Libby. Before moving to this new house for a “new beginning,” she was diagnosed with Bipolar III after surviving a suicide attempt. In this post I will cover how her mental health affects her and her family over the course of the book.
Libby from the start seemed like any other unassuming high school student, no problems at all, in fact she may have looked to the untrained eye like she was thriving. A good student, sister, friend, and actor, even landing a starring role in a school play. But under the surface, she felt isolated. Almost constantly she recounts waves of self doubt crashing into her harder and harder, filling her with horrible thoughts, making her believe that everyone might be better off without her. Finally one day it was too much to bear, and her younger sister Vivi, no less than five or six years younger than Libby, walked into her older sister’s bathroom to find her laying on the ground in a pool of vomit, nearly lifeless. To Vivi’s horror, it was clear what happened. The note on the counter, the empty bottle of pills, her older sister Libby, her hero, had just attempted to take her own life.
Ultimately, one could argue that the attempt was anything but Libby’s fault, for more than a thousand reasons, one being her mental state, but Vivi did not want to hear any of it. In her eyes, Libby her everything gave up on her, and, “as far as Vivi was concerned her sister was dead.” Then her mom slowly suffered, the circles under her eyes growing larger and the robotic tone in her voice becoming more apparent. After it happened, Libby wished she did anything but that, but without the proper help, how much of it did Libby really have a part in?
In the book, the way Libby separated herself from others is described as cognitive distortion, a choking whisper that tells her she is not good enough. But regardless of her part in the matter, Libby throughout the story has to deal with her decision and make amends with every chance she can, reforming bonds with her sister and mother. If this plot sounds intriguing, and you enjoy ghost stories, I highly recommend A Place For Vanishing.
Fraistat, Ann. A Place for Vanishing. Delacorte Press, 2024.
This is well written! I like how you also mentioned Vivi's view on the situation, and not just Libby's own perspective. From a young child's perspective, it does sound very traumatic, and I understand how she would think her own sister gave up on her, which, I expect, would hurt her deeply. Suicide is a huge issue to this day, and even though this is a fictional book, these situations sadly do happen in real life. This review was interesting to read!
ReplyDeleteI liked that your blog post is in the form of a book recommendation. Your summary of the plot gave a pretty nice introduction to the book without revealing the entire story. However, I don't really understand what ghosts has to do with the story that you laid out for the readers. In addition, what do the secrets within the house have to do with everything? Overall, though, I liked your blog post (and "the waves of self doubt crashing into her" metaphor).
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