Say What You Will Summary

The Roller Coaster that is Senior Year: In the Eyes of a Disabled Student
My Book Review on Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern

The book Say What You Will is a moving story about two teenagers who are very different from everyone around them and their struggle to get through Senior year. Throughout this book review i’m going to start off by talking about the main characters.
Amy Van Dorn is a girl with Cerebral Palsy, meaning she has to use a walker and a Pathway in order to speak. Amy is way above average when it comes to intelligence and is definitely aware of the way people see her. To me, i thought that her character was very compelling, because she is not the typical heroine that you read about in every other story. But she is still just as astounding. I also enjoyed how wasn’t afraid to approach people and talk to them even if she knew that they didn’t want to. Especially because not everyone would be willing to just throw themselves out there like she did considering her circumstances.
Then there’s Matthew, he is one of the four peer helpers that Amy has her mom hire to help her throughout Senior year. But Matthew also his his own baggage that he carries with him. You see he has a mild case of OCD that makes him feel like terrible things will happen

if he doesn’t wash his hands. In all reality Matthew is just a normal with abnormal fears that Amy tries her hardest to help him get over. At first i didn’t connect as well with him as i did with Amy, but later on towards the middle of the story i started to accept him and the way that he acts.
But together is where i thought they were the best. I thought that they really helped each other out whether it was overcoming fears or just daily problems.In the end they connected in a way that neither of them probably expected, because i sure didn’t see it coming. The book itself was more of a romance that was honest and true, yet adorable at the same time. The description of someone's first love was truly amazing because it really was exactly the way it works. Say What You Will was filled with insecurities, anxiety, tears, and most of all pure excitement and forgiveness. Every twist and turn in the story either put my heart together or tore it right back apart, because it’s so heartbreaking. But the twists are what gave the book so much depth.
Cammie McGovern is the author of the novel Say What You Will that came out in 2014.

She is also the author of three other adult books, Eye Contact, The Art of Seeing, and Neighborhood Watch. Her most recent book is called A Step Toward Falling which is also a young adult novel much like Say What You Will. Cammie is one of the founders of a resource center for children and young adults with disabilities, it’s called Whole Children/Milestones. She currently lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, with her three sons, the oldest of them is 19 and has autism and a husband. Her son is one of her main reasons why she writes the stories that she does, because she feels like we never hear enough of their story as we

should.
First off i’d like to start out by saying that i thoroughly enjoyed this book. McGovern does a truly fantastic job of not only keeping this book as real as possible, but she also fills in most of the gaps with text messages and emails between Matthew and Amy. She makes a story that takes an honest look at students and more importantly people who have disabilities, but who are not what their disabilities say they should be like. During the book Amy and Matthew both struggle with not only finding their independence, but also with discovering the boundaries of their friendship. This book will take you through a whirlwind of a roller coaster that will make you cry, laugh, and feel all of the pain that these characters do.
I wasn’t in love with the fact that it is mainly told in a close third person narrative and it switches back and forth between Amy and Matthew’s point of view. At points that got really confusing and i would have definitely felt connected with the characters better if it wasn’t written like that. I believe that my emotional attachment to this book could have been better but it was actually really good. I understood the images that she was trying to throw at us and i understood the thoughts that she was trying to give to us, but i couldn’t exactly feel them. Amy and Matthew’s personalities could have been a little more defined especially more in the beginning, because i felt a little left in the dust. Still, the message that this book portrays is so powerful, because the message is that no matter how people see you, being the best person that you can possibly be is the most important part.
Overall though i would highly recommend this book to anybody that is a fan of John Green and Rainbow Rowell. The depth and honesty of character as well as the teenage struggles that everyone goes through will definitely appeal to realistic fictional readers. To me Say What You Will was an important book and i would read to over and over again.