Get Well Soon by Julie Halpern (Book #1)
Release Date: September 1, 2009
Publisher: Square Fish
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
ISBN: 9780312581480
Add it to Goodreads

I got a better look at some of my fellow patients in this freak hole, and they all look pretty close to my age. They come up to the check-in desk to get pills. After they take them, the desk people look in their mouths to make sure they’ve swallowed. It’s like something out of The Twilight Zone. Are they going to do that to me?

Get Well Soon tells the story of Anna Bloom. She is an average teenager with one exception; she is depressed. She has bouts of Irritable Bowel Syndrome and panic attacks in school which interferes with her attendance. Her parents send her to a mental hospital named Lakeland which is recoined as “Lake Shit” by the residents. When she first arrives at “Lake Shit” she is forced to sit in a desk in the hallway by herself. Alone and bored, she writes letters to her best friend Tracy detailing her two weeks there.

Through her letters the reader is introduced to the residents. Some seem “normal” while others include a pregnant roommate, a satanist, a pyromaniac, and a drug dealer. She is forced to follow rules that make no sense to her, but she quickly adjusts. While she feels like an outsider on the “outside”, she quickly finds her niche and makes friends on the inside. She details her every moment at “Lake Shit” from the mundane to the exciting outbursts of her fellow residents. Through the confining walls of the hospital, she is able to figure more out about herself than she realizes is possible in two weeks. Anna’s voice was unique, honest, and humorous. She had her own perspective which very much resembled a typical teenager.

Get Well Soon provides a unique insight into the mind of a teenage girl who experiences life inside of a mental institution. There are few other books written from the perspective of in-patient mental health treatment. If you have any interest in psychology or mental health issues, I recommend that you read Get Well Soon today.

Get Well Soon by Julie Halpern is available now.

_________________________________________________________________
This review was written by Sarah Jameson.

Sarah Jameson is from New Jersey. Currently a college student, she is pursuing degrees in Psychology and Business Management at Rutgers University. She is a book and television enthusiast.