Review & Interview – When Reason Breaks by Cindy L. Rodriguez

When Reason Breaks by Cindy L. Rodriguez
(Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads)Published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA on February 10th 2015
Genres: Family, General, Love & Romance, Mysteries & Detective Stories, Social Issues, Suicide, Young Adult
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover

A Goth girl with an attitude problem, Elizabeth Davis must learn to control her anger before it destroys her. Emily Delgado appears to be a smart, sweet girl with a normal life, but as depression clutches at her, she struggles to feel normal. Both girls are in Ms. Diaz's English class, where they connect to the words of Emily Dickinson. Both are hovering on the edge of an emotional precipice. One of them will attempt suicide. And with Dickinson's poetry as their guide, both girls must conquer their personal demons to ever be happy. In an emotionally taut novel that is equal parts literary and commercial, with a richly diverse cast of characters, readers will relish in the poetry of Emily Dickinson and be completely swept up in the turmoil of two girls fighting for their lives.

Where did the idea for this story come from and what kind of research did you have to do?

I first got the idea for this story in 2007, when I was taking a graduate course on Emily Dickinson. Before this class, I knew a few of her poems and what most people knew about her—that she was a recluse whose poetry wasn’t published until after her death. During the class, I fell in love with her life and work. Around that time, I also “saw” (in my head) a part of the opening scene: a teacher running through the woods toward a student who was trying to commit suicide in the woods near the high school. When I really started to plan the novel, I decided the main characters would represent Dickinson in certain ways and struggle with something she and I have struggled with–depression.

Because of my familiarity with Dickinson and depression, I didn’t have to “start from scratch” for research. I checked recent statistics and information about depression, but it’s something that runs in my family and that I have experienced first-hand. As for Dickinson, during that graduate class, I wrote three 20-page papers and ten 1-page responses to her poetry. After that, I definitely knew more about her than the average person. While writing the novel, I double-checked some details about her life and the poems, but the bulk of my research on Dickinson was done during that course.

Emily Dickinson’s poetry is a big part of this story. Were you a fan of her before and how easy was it to weave it into the story?

As I said above, I wasn’t a huge fan of hers before I took that graduate course. After doing all of that academic research on her life and poetry, choosing the specific poems to use in the classroom scenes was easy. “Dwell in Possibility” is possibly the most famous line taken from a Dickinson poem, and the poem itself fits with the opening days of school, when teachers and students are getting to know each other and considering the possibilities of the new year. Later in the novel, Emily and Elizabeth work on the poem “I was the slightest in the House.” This was a good choice for this scene since both girls feel “small” and unnoticed, even by those closest to them. The line from the poem that’s referenced in the title—And then a Plank in Reason broke—perfectly fits the feeling that something fundamental has broken inside of you when you’re depressed. If I hadn’t studied her in the past, weaving in the poetry would have been more difficult. She wrote almost 2,000 poems, so finding the right one for a particular scene would have been a daunting task without knowledge of her work beforehand.

What was your favorite scene to write and why?

One of my favorite scenes is in Chapter 16. It’s the scene at the party, where Emily is reading in an upstairs office and Elizabeth stumbles into the room, thinking it’s the bathroom. I like it because it reveals a lot about both girls. Emily is so uncomfortable at the party, even with her friends there, that she retreats into a dark, quiet room to read. Elizabeth doesn’t usually go to parties, but there she is. Both are making an effort to be socially “normal,” but their inner turmoil prevents them from having a good time. Their conversation about lying underscores a thread throughout the novel about facades and misperceptions. When Elizabeth says, “I see you,” she pierces Emily’s wall for a moment and they recognize they have something in common. It’s an important, intimate moment for these girls who seem so different, but really aren’t.

This book touches a lot of really tough topics, did you find that difficult to incorporate and did you worry about the message?

There are several things going on in the novel, like Elizabeth’s broken relationship with her father and Emily’s problems with her friends, but depression really is the main issue. Everything that happens, like the changes in Emily’s friendships once she has a boyfriend or Elizabeth’s insecurity about starting a relationship with Tommy, is seen through the lens of depressed characters. The things that happen to them are normal, really, but they become more problematic for Emily and Elizabeth because depression doesn’t allow them to cope and respond with ease. I think the story naturally sends the message that depression is common and affects people in different ways. People who seem fine might not be, and if left untreated, tragic things could happen. I’m more than okay with that being the message people get.

Did any of your characters surprise you by doing something you didn’t expect?

The cosmic bowling scene came in the later stages of planning, so initially, I didn’t plan to have Elizabeth, the wanna-be badass Goth girl, show up with her younger sister in matching outfits they used to wear when they were in a bowling league. This scene was fun to write and did surprise me because Elizabeth was allowed to show us a side of her that’s contrary to what we had seen previously. She’s still hardcore, in a way, but it’s about cosmic bowling, of all things.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Get involved with some kind of supportive group, whether it’s online or in person. Since writing is a solitary act, it’s important to have a group of people with whom you can laugh, vent, brainstorm, ask stupid questions, and share your work. If you’re pre-published, then join SCBWI, join or form a critique group, and log onto an online advice board. If you just sold a book, join a debut group, like the Fearless Fifteeners or the Class of 2k15.

What’s next for you? Are you working on anything right now that you can tell us about?

I wrote a second novel that will probably be reshaped into a middle grade eventually. So, that one is on hold. Now, I’m developing a couple of ideas that my agent will try to sell on proposal. Nothing is certain yet, but one idea will be another realistic contemporary and the other is historical.

5 Favorites

Favorite Song (right now)– Uptown Funk

Favorite Book (right now) – It’s a tie between Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Favorite TV Show/Movie (right now) – Sons of Anarchy (just finished it)

Favorite Word– vacation

Favorite Snack – Nutella

I’m always a bit leery about reading stories in this genre, sometimes they are incredibly heavy, and horribly depressing and if I’m being honest, I prefer to stay away from those for personal reasons. That said, I still wanted to give this a try. There was just something about the summary that intrigued me… maybe it was the idea of weaving the poetry of Emily Dickinson into it, I’ve never been much of a poetry reader, and I don’t know much of her stuff so I thought this might be an interesting way to experience that in addition to an interesting story.

I have to say that I wasn’t disappointed in the least.

Elizabeth Davis and Emily Delgado couldn’t be further apart in the high school social spectrum. Elizabeth, is the goth girl who has anger issues and a chip on her shoulder… Emily appears to be the smart, sweet girl who has everything she needs.

But what no one knows is that these two have way more in common then it may seem on the outside. Both are battling inner demons, that are threatening to engulf them and as the summary states, one of them actually gives in to this war waging inside.

I think that my favorite part of this book is the developing friendship between two unlikely characters. It’s not your typical friendship either, they are sitting around chatting about boys and gossiping about school… friendship isn’t even really acknowledged until the very end, but you can see the build and the connections and I loved that.

I will say that I kind of suspected what the author was going to do in this story with these characters. I’m not going to go into detail on this, but once you read it, you’ll know what I mean. I don’t think there was any trickery intended, only the idea that you never really know what might be happening with someone on an emotional level, and appearances aren’t necessary everything.

Now on to the Emily Dickinson aspect of this story. As I said, I’ve never really been a poetry reader. I should probably change that, because I love the dissection of poetry and trying to get to the bottom of what an author might actually mean and how it can be different based on a person’s experiences and background, and that is what I really enjoyed about it being woven in here. I loved that the characters really dug into her work and shared conclusions about her with us. I loved that the author shared Emily Dickinson’s history with us in the back and I really liked that it allowed me this additional insight into the characters when we got their interpretation of the writing.

I have to say that the end of this story could have gone many different ways, but I was incredibly happy with the way Rodriguez wrote it. It offers a serious look at mental health issues, but also hits on a couple other major issues that are prevalent in high school these days. What it left me with when I turned the last page though was hope and I think that that’s something sorely needed in books that fall into this genre.

If you’re looking for a wonderfully written, and moving story about depression and suicide, definitely give this one a read. I’ll definitely be checking out Ms. Rodriguez’s next titles when they arrive.

This giveaway is US only for entrants aged 13 and older.

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About Cindy L. Rodriguez

Hi! I’m Cindy L. Rodriguez, the author of WHEN REASON BREAKS, a young adult novel that released 2/10/15 with Bloomsbury. I am represented by Laura Langlie. I teach middle school reading and college-level composition. I'm a big fan of the three Cs: coconut, coffee, and chocolate. I live in Connecticut with my daughter and rescue mutt.

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