I chose this book expecting a standard book format and instead found it full of poetry-like structuring, which I purposefully found off-putting because it wasn't actually poetry it was just regular sentences awkwardly chopped up. However, I found the story completely absorbing and finished reading it in two bursts. This Impossible Light relates the downward spiral 15-year-old Ivy finds herself in when she turns to an eating disorder to cope with her unstable life. Told from Ivy's first person perspective, it's a haunting and sobering look into how quickly things can spin out of control.

This book, told entirely in prose, offers a sharp insight into what it feels like to struggle with your own body and to try and navigate your own path out of childhood and into the person you want to be. 
The book offers hope in response to the critical dangers of engaging in disordered eating behavior and I appreciate that there are a list of resources for help and treatment provided in the back.

This is a book that will work for a lot of readers. If you're into verse, I think you should pick this up. Sadly, I don't think it was for me. 

Novels in verse just hardly ever land for me. I usually like poetry in verse, but after a few of these, I realized they all sounded exactly the same. None had depth beyond “words said in a pretty way”. I don't hate free verse poetry; in fact, I quite enjoy the hard emotions behind it. But here's the catch; it needs to have emotions. But the language here isn't poetry. I like free verse because it invites feelings in me. These words incited nothing in me; not feelings, not love for any of the characters. 

The main character narrating this piece is hopelessly generic. There's this trend in YA literature of writing generic characters so anyone can relate to the story. I get it. I just don't particularly like it. Characters like this end up seeming like plot devices, not people. 

Unfortunately, in a story depending mostly on a stylistic method to stand out, my dislike for stories told in verse poetry overtook my opinion. As an overall story, this was quite compelling. While I found the characters fairly generic, they were all likable enough. The portrayal of eating disorders is very good, going off what I've read before about portrayal. It's not a bad book. It just wasn't for me.

This Impossible Light is a beautiful wok of art. Combining poetry and narrative, the culmination is not only touching, but incredibly relateable. If you enjoyed, "Shrinking Women" this is a must. It takes the story of a young girl suffering from an eating disorder, and complicates it. By making it about her: her relationship with grief, her mother, and her friends, this book reads quickly, but will move you. I loved every aspect, from the mathematical concepts, to the thematic touches, to the word choices. It deals with issues of fractured families, changing bodies, and moving on. While it can be impossible for us to find the light at some moments or another, it is always there. I cannot get over how in love I am with this story and am already looking forward to reading it again.

This novel written in poetic verse takes you on a journey of mental illness and the aftermath of a family broken apart in a lyrical, crisp, and stunning way. At first I was taken in by Ivy this smart girl mc that felt so much like me. I was that weird girl who enjoyed school, who's favorite classes were english, math, and science. Except while Ivy embraced that side of herself I hid it away as much as I could. 

When things started to change in the novel and Ivy started to talk about her loss, loss of family, loss of friends, loss of herself, I began to feel sick, because her spiral into body dysmorphia was similar to how my own spiral into a depression occurred although for very different reasons. As hard as it was for me to read the truths that were being spoken, I could not put this book down. 

This bright, funny, nerdy character got dull and dizzy with her fight to control her eating and I was breaking all over inside for it. All she ever wished for was reliability as reliable as 2+2=4 and she broke when she found that to be human is to be unrealiable. Till she could no longer have the heart to remember that there could be an good to life, just discipline, biking, and study study study. 

This book was undeniably one of the best books I've read in 2017. Not only that, but one for me to realize that my own scars need a little more work to be fully healed and that that is ok. To human is to take baby steps towards something a bit more positive little by little every day. I am happier for having read this book that beautifully and horrifically describes how one can fall into a state of declining mental-health.

I really enjoyed this novel in verse. I found Ivy’s voice and her story compelling. I enjoyed the way she desperately tries to seize control of one aspect of her life because everything else has fallen apart. Ivy is having a bad time following her parent’s divorce. Her mother is depressed and shutting herself away. Ivy’s world is suddenly unstable and she latches onto the one thing she can control – her eating. I liked the way the story progresses with Ivy’s eating disorder gradually having more and more serious repercussions. This Impossible Light is incredibly sad and moving at times. My only criticism is that the verse that makes up this novel felt a bit too simple at times and could have been deeper. Still, I was drawn in from page one and enjoyed every word. I’d recommend This Impossible Light.

I think the author does a wonderful job of writing the struggle of a teenager trying to gain control in a life that is coming apart as it is known. Reminiscent of Ellen Hopkins (who I admittedly haven't read since high school). I plan on purchasing for my library's YA fiction collection.

Everything in Ivy's life is changing. Her parents have gotten divorced, her brother has moved out to attend culinary school, and her best friend just returned from a summer in Paris with a new friend. Ivy has always been known as the Smart Girl, and she takes pride in this identity. As Ivy struggles to deal with all of the changes in her life, she focuses on what she can control--studying, exercising, and eating. Ivy continues to force control over her diet and exercise, while quickly spiraling out of control.

It's not very easy to review a book that ended up affecting you more than you thought it would. I have nothing but positive things to say about this book. 

The Impossible Light is a novel in verse that follows a 15 year old girl named Ivy. She just went through what could be the worst summer of her life where her parents' divorce made her see another version of her mom -silenced and ready to crumble-, which is a very sad thing. She also lost her best friend that came from Paris a totally different and changed person and her brother Sky moved out on top of it all. So she was left all by herself to face all of this, alone. Poor Ivy just wanted to get back the "Before" version of her life but she knows that it can't happen and that it's not really up to her. She knows she has no control over what's happening to her and so try to imagine the aftermath of losing this much so fast and not being able to do anything about it. Horrible, right?

I couldn't put it down aside from the times where I needed a pause to retrieve myself, to feel and to think. (No, you're the one who's been crying!) It was very captivating from start to finish. This book is definitely not your go-to light read. It tackles lots of difficult subjects such as the relationship between us and our body image and how it could deeply affect us, eating disorders, depression, broken families and friendships and the scars we inherit from these last two.

Before getting into this book, I didn't understand eating disorders that much. Of course, the book didn't deliver a textbook definition of what an eating disorder is but at least, I got a little bit more familiar with it and I got to know what it's like and how it can destroy a person. I haven't personally experienced suffering from an eating disorder so I can't really say whether it's accurate or not but I am familiar with depression and anxiety and I know what It's like to lose control and to try to get it back by controlling a very specific thing that will give you the illusion of control but in real, is just breaking you. It's probably why I felt a lot for Ivy and a great part of this book felt very relatable. It happens to be a great sign because my main problem with novels written in verse is the fact that I can't get attached to the characters and therefore can't feel empathy towards them. But let me tell you, Lily Myers just knows how to choose the right words to describe in a very realistic way the mind of a 15 year old teenager going through divorce , an ED and a need of control. And this is what the novel is all about: Ivy's journey.

This wasn't my first novel written in verse but this is definitely one of the very few that I loved so I was pleasantly surprised. It is divided into six "chapters": Unknown Variables, Compression, Half-Life, Limits, Discontinuous Function, Exponential Growth. I love how these chapters were given titles related to Ivy's favorite class: Calculus. I know that Compression and Half-Life are more related to Physics but I guess Smart Girl must've had a thing for Physics too or Science in general. I also love how at the end of the book, a list of additional resources were given about eating disorders along with body-positive blogs and websites. It's genuine.

(Review will be added on my blog on: May 20th)

I did not know what to expect, having not read a long-form poetry narrative before. But from the start, I was caught in the downward spiral and dragged along for the ride.

Some other reviewers said that Lily Myers captured the mentality of those who develop eating disorders. I don't have personal experience to compare it to, but it seems very realistic - the chain-of-events that led to a need to control one little part of your life is a familiar one.

As a novel told in poetry, there are some beautiful lines in there, some that made me have to stop because the sadness was a little much. At the same time, I also felt that it was simplistic. If this was novel told in prose, there could be more opportunities for character development across the board. However, for a quick read, this works too. Sometimes poetry is a what happens when you distill many words into a few that works just as well.

It was my first time reading a book written like this and I found out I really enjoyed it. It a pretty hard read for me at the moment because I felt I could relate to the MC in some aspects and it made it difficult but not impossible.

Unfortunately, the style of these poems did not work for me and my own history with an eating disorder made this a challenge to get through, and due to the combination of these I could not finish the book. Despite this, I found what I did manage to read very moving and poignant: the way that Ivy's family situation and closest friendship affected her and began to fluctuate, as well as the progression of Ivy's feelings and hopelessness were written so well and were utterly heartbreaking to read. 

Even though I was not keen on the style and my own personal issues left me unable to finish, I would still recommend this book to others as something definitely worth giving a try.

Overall, I would recommend this book. Towards the beginning, I thought the poems were a bit repetitive, in terms of talking about her family dynamic (I also noticed a slight repetition of imagery in some of her poems). But, they soon progressed.

What I loved about this book was the descriptive metaphors/imagery that the author uses -- particularly when discussing the crumbling family dynamic, towards the beginning. I also liked how accessible the poems were, and how the author successfully blends storytelling into poetry. She also uses a child-like tone to bring the young character to life, which enables us to more clearly understand how Ivy perceived the world around her and the events that occurred. This technique also provided a sharp contrast to the mature topics that the book explores, and serves to remind us of the the struggles that many young people face in today's society.

At times, I thought the tone and written expression was a little bit too simplistic for my taste (although, I'm an older reader). I also didn't quite get the formatting of the poems 9 times out of 10 -- I feel as though they didn't really add much. However, 'The Impossible Light' was an interesting and insightful read. As stated, I would recommend this book to a teen audience.

I picked this book up originally as I wanted a quick read, and I had never tried reading a fiction book written in verse before. I am unable to comment as to how this measures up to authors such as Ellen Hopkins, as I have yet to read one of her books. I will say though, that the writing flowed wonderfully for me, and even brought me to tears on a couple of occasions.

The story follows a teenage girl named Ivy, who goes through quite the emotional rollercoaster of a journey. This book doesn't make for easy reading at times, as Ivy deals with her parents divorce, an eating disorder, loneliness, exhaustion and also depression. I feel that all these topics are handled incredibly well, though I would exercise extreme caution when reading this if you have ever suffered from an eating disorder.

I didn't think I would end up getting attached to Ivy, or any of her family and friends, because of the writing being in verse. I thought this might somehow hinder my experience of getting fully immersed in the story, but if anything the opposite was true. I felt incredibly connected to Ivy, and the further I read on, the more I realised this would be a five star read for me. Everyone felt so real, so genuine, and I felt like I was there with Ivy every step of the way, like a fly on the wall.

I highly recommend checking this book out as it is a relatively quick read, though is difficult to read in one sitting due to how heavy the subject matter is. All the same, I absolutely loved this book, and I hope to read more by this author one day.

“She says depression has made her own issues worse / She says it can be a lifelong war.”

This Impossible Light by Lily Myers follows fifteen-year-old Ivy in the aftermath of her parents’ divorce.

This book deals with such important topics such as depression within older people that can reflect on younger kids who look up to them, eating disorders and grieving of something other than a dead person, showing that it’s okay to feel the same after losing something - i.e. a happy family - than you would after losing someone.

However, despite all these heartbreaking themes, you are still inclined to believe that everything is going alright, gaining the thought patterns of Ivy as she goes down the path of self-destruction. You believe everything is fine because that’s what she’s telling you until everything goes wrong and you feel stupid for thinking it would all work out for her if she continued going on the way she was. Ivy was a brilliantly written unreliable narrator.

I’d recommend this book to anyone from 13-16 specifically because I believe the themes dealt in this book and the way they were dealt with would be incredibly relatable to kids at that age, whether it is personally or through their friends or family members.

“I don’t want this to be my story.”

Overall, 4/5 stars for a heartbreakingly intriguing storyline and beautiful, easy-to-read writing style. I managed to read this all in one day.

This book begins with Ivy, 15 year old, whose parents just divorced, her brother moving out and doesnt feel like she known her best friend at all. Wanting it just like before is impossible and she doesnt handle it well. 

Falling in and out, she began having body image and leads her into eating disorder. [TW: Puking] 

Told in the form of poetry, this book could made you weep. I love the fact that it doesnt input any romance, and she got help from professional. 

Ivy is really a Smart Girl and i hope the best for her. 

I know that i would recommend this book if it ever come in conversation.

This heavy hearted story of 15 year old Ivy, and the troubles she deals with definitely gets a five star rating from me. Whilst the situation she's in is heartbreaking, it has been beautifully written and made it easy to read, without neglecting the importance of the topics throughout the book. 

Eating disorders, depression, loss as well as family and friendship troubles are the major topics covered throughout this book. These have been depicted brilliantly as the story is grows, following Ivy along the whole way. 

Lily Myer is the writer of Shrinking Women which was presented at the 2013 CUPSI (College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational). So if you love slam poetry, it is very likely that you will love this book.

This Impossible Light is a novel in verse about a girl named Ivy and her struggles after her parents’ divorce. It’s a heavy read subject-wise, but it didn’t impress me.
I liked the poetry, there are some amazing, powerful lines hidden in the verses, and I liked how it was all organized. But it’s a before-seen plot, and those powerful lines aren’t enough to carry the filler ones. Not to mention, it continuously reminded me of The Princess Saves Herself in This One.
I thought I was going to love this book, I’m really bummed out that I didn’t.

Trigger Warning for Eating Disorders.

I read this book in an hour. I forgot my English homework. I ignored my friends at the table. I cried in front of the entire common room, and my friends were kind enough to 'not notice'.

This book was incredible.

Being the first book I've read written in verse, I had no idea how I much I would really love it. The beauty of the writing was astounding - I couldn't and didn't tear my eyes away from it. Lily Myers' words blocked out the noise of the full common room and completely enveloped me in this solemn, heart-breaking silence.

Another word to describe this book - heartbreaking. As someone who hasn't suffered from an eating disorder before (and as such, I can't say whether this was an accurate representation), the thoughts running through Ivy's head broke me. I felt every bit of her hate, her desperation, and pain, and it made me realise just how much I didn't know about the psychology of eating disorders and just how easy they can occur in society today. Though it is told from Ivy's perspective, it shows other people's struggles with mental illness and body image and self-esteem in such a subtle way that I almost missed it, which led me to wonder - how much more have I missed in real life?

I had worried that being written in verse, Ivy wouldn't seem like a real character, more detached perhaps, but I felt closer to Ivy than I have to a lot of characters I have read about. The pressures of being The Smart Girl I could relate to so much, the feeling of success being taken as a given and failure an impossibility. But then having to strike I balance between the two. 

Just thinking about that again is getting me emotional. I was a mess at her worst, and I was a mess on the way to her best. I just... I just adored it. I needed a good book cry and this was it.

I will probably read this again very soon. It is one of the special ones.

I would whole-heartedly recommend.

**Thanks to NetGalley for providing a free copy of THE IMPOSSIBLE LIGHT in exchange for my honest review**

If you're expecting anything similar to Laurie Halse Anderson or Ellen Hopkins, you'll be sorely disappointed. Novels in verse need to be more than prose formatted to look like poetry. With verse, every word needs to be meaningful and important to the plot or character, to advance the story or knowledge of the narration.

For the most part, the quality of Lily Myers writing feels bland and unoriginal. While she occasional pens a gem, the surrounding rusty metal turns the skin green. I enjoyed the math and science metaphors, the strongest part of Myer's writing.

Ivy, the unoriginal narrator, quickly develops an eating disorder after her parents divorce and her best friend changes. The same story has been told so many times it has become cliché.

THE IMPOSSIBLE LIGHT is mercifully a very quick read. I can't think of a reason to recommend.