To say the book deals with some heavy stuff is a bit of an understatement. The prologue follows Dylan on his slow walk to the bridge where he’ll slit his wrists – something we also see on the page. Throughout the book, we experience firsthand the dark thoughts and self-sabotaging actions that accompany major depressive disorder and severe anxiety.

However, the book isn’t all doom and gloom. Daniel is a major light in Dylan’s life, and seeing his attempts at uplifting and befriending Dylan helps break through the darker moments. This isn’t a Disney story and things don’t improve overnight, but the dynamic between Daniel and Dylan keeps things light enough to make an emotionally tough read bearable. Dan is the ultimate cheerleader/support friend that every person struggling through depression could use in their life. Their dynamic is always evolving, as Dylan learns to trust and open up to his friend and neighbor. There’s a slow burn potential romance in there, too!

This book resonated with me on many levels. Since my teens, I’ve dealt with severe depression and anxiety. Six years ago I was diagnosed with manic depressive bipolar disorder and have been working on getting that under control through medication and therapy ever since. Being “along for the ride” as Dylan attempts to tackle the same brought back a lot of memories, but not necessarily in a bad way. The author put words to feelings I’ve struggled to convey and the mental illnesses were written so accurately that I was easily able to empathize with Dylan and his journey.

Giving Up also lightly explores asexuality – something I haven’t encountered in the real world and rarely encounter in books. It was interesting to see that sexuality through Dylan’s eyes, and Daniel’s reaction to the revelation.

The author starts the book by stating that the mental illnesses explored in the book are a result of firsthand experience, but the suicide aspects were learned about through research. Knowing that so much of the journey was written by someone who went through it on their own will help those suffering through depression, as well as those who have never experienced it, connect with the characters and hopefully learn more about these crippling illnesses that are too prevalent in our society.

All in all, I loved this book!

I guess I’ll be the bad guy here because other reviewers seemed to love this book, but not me. It was all I could do to keep reading it.

The beginning of this story moves too fast to really build up the characters into something realistic, and I found them to be simplistic and not believable. For example, Dylan knows Mandy for about 10 minutes before he reaches the conclusion that she’s “one of the nicest, most genuine human beings he had ever met,” but he doesn’t know her well enough to reach that conclusion. Sorry, but sitting with him for five minutes and offering to make a phone call for him doesn’t justify his feelings about her. And Dr. Robertson? Yikes! I really hope actual shrinks in this situation are more tactful. How in the hell is someone on suicide watch with no family or friends or job supposed to make living arrangements from a hospital bed?

I don’t find Dan to be a believable character. He just happens to be passing under a remote bridge while Dylan was bleeding out? And then he just happens to have every possible commodity that Dylan needs during his recovery? A rent-free apartment, furniture, a job? Sorry, but that seems like a fantasy to me. And at times, his dialogue sounds more like a suicide-prevention pamphlet than a genuine manner in which two young men would talk to one another, and other times he just sounds downright patronizing. There’s some hints to his character’s back story, but so much about him isn’t revealed until far too late in the story to give his character substance. As a reader, I didn’t know enough about him to be invested in him.

A third of the way through the story, I was completely sick of Dylan. I understand that he represents what it is like to be in the throes of depression and what it is like to live in that state, but he came across as whiny, and I found him irritating and unlikable.

It got slightly better when Dan’s motivation for taking in Dylan is finally revealed, but I felt that it would have helped the story a lot more to have disclosed that early on. And, for me, by the end, it deteriorated even further with Dan and Dylan’s fight where two mild mannered characters were suddenly dropping F-bombs every other word. That seemed to come out of nowhere and be completely out of character for both of them.

The point in the story at which certain things were revealed just seemed to be oddly timed. A small example, 125 pages into the book, after he and Dan have shared countless meals of Chinese food, pizza and Christmas dinner with Dan’s parents, it’s suddenly revealed that Dylan has to order cheese pizza because he’s a vegetarian. So, what’s he been eating up to this point? And why is there suddenly a need to reveal this information two-thirds of the way into the book? And here’s a much bigger example. Halfway through the story, Dan and Dylan have a sex talk where Dylan reveals that he’s not into sex, and Dan suggests that he might be asexual, a concept that Dylan does not seem familiar with. Fast forward to almost the end of the story, and Dylan is talking about his past as if he had always known he was asexual. It just made no sense based on their earlier conversation.

Depression, suicide, and sexual identity are all very important for young people to read about, and there are many books out there that deal with these topics (Liane Shaw’s Caterpillars Can’t Swim is a beautiful example), but I can’t recommend Giving Up as one of them.

OMG, Giving Up was such a heart breaking, intense read dealing which real and very difficult issues. Suicide, depression, anxiety, coming to terms with your sexuality.... are very often ignored and skated over in both reality and fiction, I've never read a story like this and it was so brave of Michelle to share it. She achieved getting Dylan's daily struggles across to the reader beautifully, I felt right there with Dylan sharing his life and constant fears. It was so exhausting and confusing for him, so very painful, but such a journey that I was completely humbled by.
An eye opening read which I think is worthwhile for anyone, even those new to this genre. Highly recommended.

I'm so glad this book was written. It dealt with real and very difficult subjects, suicide, depression, anxiety, coming to terms with your sexuality. Topics that as a society we often ignore. It was brave of Michelle to take on so many difficult topics. These topics were discussed with beautifully brutal honesty. Fair warning, this book will break your heart ... and then put it all back together.

Self harm wasn't cool, mental illness wasn't romantic, and depression wasn't a phase that expired if given time.

That is what you need to remember if you read this book. It was real, at times it was downright painful. We're joining Dylan on a personal and very difficult journey and we should feel some of his pain. I appreciate the way the author put it all out there without dressing it up and romanticizing it. I think it's important; we should feel uncomfortable when we read about uncomfortable topics. Whether or not it should be, mental health is an uncomfortable topic.

This book is written in the third person from Dylan's perspective. At the beginning of the book, he takes us with him as he attempts suicide. He shares his problems, his doubts and his commitment to ending his life. He shares his disappointment and frustration when he wakes up in the hospital. The worst/ best part is, I was right there with him, feeling the utter hopelessness and defeat he was feeling. It's no secret, I connect with pretty much every character I read, but I rarely connect with them in the prologue like I did with Dylan.

A little while later, we meet Dan, who refuses to give up on Dylan. They form a friendship. We get to watch Dylan as he goes through all the trials of depression. Best of all, we get to watch as he realizes he's not alone, that Dan is there for him.

This was not a fun, happy read. For better or worse, I was on this journey with Dylan. I felt all the ups and downs, the uncertainty, the insecurity, the anxiety. My heart broke, more times than I can count. But, in the end, the book left me with a smile.

Overall, Giving Up is a story about resiliency. A refreshing change from the Cinderella stories I typically read. I found the story eye opening and I think it's a worthwhile read for anyone.