After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away by Joyce Carol Oates

Jenna Abbott was just a normal girl living a normal life, until the wreck happened. Nothing was the same after the wreck as before it—Jenna’s friends, her home, even her own self. She has been irrevocably changed, whether she likes it, or wants to admit it, or not. She’s really only a shell of the girl she once was, clinging desperately to distant memories of happiness even though she’s on the verge of completely losing it. She can’t trust anyone, can’t let herself trust anyone, even her own family. And then Jenna meets Crow, who’s got secrets of his own. Jenna finds that she can open herself up to him, but will this put her on the path of redemption and self forgiveness, or will she continues down the ugly road of self-destruction? In this emotional and moving story, Oates explores the trail of damage that death causes and the fragile strength required to rise about it.

Most of this story can be summed up with its lengthy title, After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away, because that is, in essence, what Jenna struggles with doing and eventually accomplishes. I really appreciated Oates’ sometimes simplistic writing style because it so effectively conveyed Jenna’s thoughts, emotions, and delusions. It’s from this style of writing that I was able to truly grasp how damaged Jenna was by the wreck, and it caused my heart to go out to her. There is something so fragile and delicate about Jenna’s character that makes the reader want to protect and take care of her, but at the same time, Jenna’s nature does not permit this type of babysitting. I loved how complex Jenna was and how she struggled to distinguish between dream and reality, because I feel this is an issue many of us also struggle with, although not necessarily on so desperate a scale as Jenna. After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away is an emotional journey and moving tale about death, forgiveness, and everlasting friendship.

This novel is one of those that you want to take your time reading to fully understand. It ranks up with other novels on the same topic such as Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, Freeze Frame by Heidi Ayarbe, and Saving Zoë by Alyson Noël.

Rating: 4.5

Review copy from personal collection