10 Things I Can See From Here

“Why get upset about something so small? Think positive. What is there to worry about?” People are always telling Maeve that things will be ok, but they don’t understand what it’s like to struggle with anxiety. 10 Things I Can See From Here, a novel by Carrie Mac, is the story of a girl named Maeve who has been struggling with chronic anxiety for a long time.  She regularly imagines the worst in situations, and is always prepared for things to fall apart. In addition to her troubles, her mother is leaving to work in Haiti for the next six months, so Maeve will be sent to Vancouver for the summer to live with her dad, and his two sons. For Maeve, being in Vancouver brought lots of new worries, but when she meets a girl named Salix, many things change in her life. With her pregnant stepmom, and her dad’s on and off sobriety, Maeve’s summer contains a variety of catastrophes that she cannot handle alone.

 

Carrie Mac created characters that are different from any other book that I’ve ever read. Her writing style makes the characters seem real and they have a strong personality that stands out. I have never read a book where the main character has anxiety, and I thought it would be interesting to see what is was like for this character. Occasionally, Maeve can be so caught up with her own anxiety that she finds unnecessary answers with current problems just to add to her stress, such as results to her stepmother’s pregnancy and deaths caused by trains. Personally, I think reading this book could help others who do not have anxiety to understand what it’s like to struggle with it. Because of how detailed the author was in her writing, I was able to vividly picture what was going during the story at all times.

 

Due to the adult themes in the book, I would not recommend this book to children who are below the age of 10, unless you are able to handle some of the gruesome death stories and facts that Maeve provides towards the beginning of the book. It also includes some inappropriate language that should not be read by younger readers. However, I do recommend this book to teenagers who are interested in understanding what it’s like for someone to have to cope with an anxiety on a day to day basis. I enjoyed this book a lot, and I learned plenty about what it’s like for certain people to have anxiety. Reading 10 Things I Can See From Here, gave me an understanding of what others around me could possibly be going through every day.