Book Review - Look Straight Ahead by Elaine M. Will

The Plot

The story begins with a young man wandering down a cold road at night, he is both exhausted and troubled. His name is Jeremy Knowles and we rewind to him being in school some time earlier.

He enjoys art, but has trouble fitting in. He has a pretty bad day all around that he just can’t shake. His problems become more obvious as the night wears on and eventually everything starts to slowly break down for him.

Jeremy begins to experience more visions in his mind and the real starts to become more surreal. Jeremy’s parents grow more concerned and arrange for him to get help.

Things continue to spiral for Jeremy and even as he is getting help, there are things that occur that appear to be counterproductive to his journey.

His journey gets deeper and darker and unfortunately, some aspects of his life that were good before are beginning to unravel as well.

Others around him are either unable to understand or they lack compassion. Jeremy struggles with his daily life as he begins to lose more of his grasp upon reality in addition to his illness beginning to manifest itself.

He leaves the facility that he’s in with his friend Ian and we’re back to where Jeremy was at the beginning of the book. His crisis reaches a high point as he chooses which path he’s going to take.

The Breakdown

I picked up this title (along with another) while attending VANCAF. This is what I really like about books that come from the independent scene…people aren’t creating just because they have a contract to fulfill. They don’t have a pay cheque to collect.

They create because they have a love for the medium and have a story that they really want to tell. I enjoyed the approach that this book used in order to tell Jeremy’s story.

The reader gets to experience his ups and downs and see his tumultuous journey. He appears to take a step forward only to take two steps back.

This approach made the content much more genuine as the beats of the story weren’t as predictable. Jeremy getting help did not result in a quick or easy resolution for him, but rather things ended up getting more complicated.

There is a scene in the book where Jeremy just isn’t ready to go back to school. It was an effective scene because it provided a sense of unease and it kind of seemed familiar to me at the same time.

Many of us has known someone dealing with mental health issues and in retrospect I can see how rushing someone when they aren’t ready can be the wrong call in some cases.

This part reminded me of an old acquaintance back in high school. One thing that I really appreciated about this book was the ending.

It could have gone in an artsy direction or something similar to that, but Will took what I feel is a responsible approach to concluding the story.

It is possible to experience a great deal of darkness and still be capable of feeling hope at the end. I also appreciated how some elements were left open-ended because in life, there are some things that are not worth fretting over and the approach that this book took reflects this.

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Original review on: http://insidepulse.com