After
reading the “My Heart and Other Black Holes” by Jasmine Warga, I found myself
being strongly interested to this kind of thing categorized under mental health,
fiction or not. One day I just happened to update my feed on Goodreads, it was
then I saw an eye-catching cover of a novel entitled “Our Chemical Heart”.
Well, it sounds familiar enough, though. I didn’t read the review provided by
the site, and almost immediately I made decision that I definitely going to
read it. Yeah I know it’s so wise of
me, deciding to read because of the cover like almost every other time.
The
novel turns out to be a story about a boy who fell for a broken girl, but it is
not the kind of love story when love heals the broken one. It’s about how
loving the broken girl made the boy broken, and in the end it was time that healed
them. The love story didn’t end a happy ending, but the people were indeed became
happier, better, redeemed.
I
want to say that this novel is not as bright as I expected. It’s hard for me to
keep reading it somewhere in the middle, like it loses its power to make me
stay engaged. I would not say that it’s boring but there is something about the
way the story was revealed. It’s like when someone told too much gory details
and as if she had you hang for too long.
The
philosophy of the title was found in Chapter 25. I copy the sentences here not
only to reveal why “Our Chemical Heath” is the title (based on my analysis
only), but also to show parts I like the most therefore be my personal quote.
So, here it comes:
“Love is
scientific. It’s really just a chemical reaction in the brain. Sometimes the
reaction last a life time, repeating itself over and over again. And sometimes
it doesn’t. Sometime it goes supernova and then starts to fade. We’re all just
chemical hearts. Does that make love any less brilliant? I don’t think so. Just
because a love ends doesn’t mean it wasn’t real. Love is never perfect. You
can’t go around thinking that every person you fall for is ‘The One’. People
don’t have soul mates. People make their soul mates. Heart break is
science, like love. So trust me when I say this: You are wounded right now but
you’ll heal.”
For
all of you who are now experiencing heartbreak, I hope you find beautiful ways
to heal. You will absolutely heal. It is never beyond our power to be happy, to
be back in one piece again because when we choose to, we are the hero for
ourselves.
When
it comes to rating, I will give 3 out of 5.
