"Unbroken," A Compilation (Part 1)

This review is gonna be a little different than others, and that's because this book is actually an anthology of short stories starring disabled teenagers. In it are 13 short stories, all of which will have their own mini-review. The posts will be split roughly in half between this post and the next one. Please note: If you're looking to get this book, usually it's under Marieke Nijkamp as the author.

Page Count: 300+

Published: 2018 (Farrar Straus Giroux)

A little bit of a "warning," these aren't all really "mental health related." It's actually a compilation with disabled characters, so some of them have mental disabilities but others are physical. Despite it all, though, the themes resonate fairly deeply with me as a mental health warrior, so I'll be putting those in the mental health topics "category."

And with that said, let us begin with the long list of short story reviews!!

The Long Road, by Heidi Heilig

Genre: Fantasy

Potential Triggers: Magic/Amulets

Mental Health Topics: Cures Not Existing

The Long Road is a short story about a girl's journey to find a cure for her "illness." It's about 14 pages long—so pretty short—but it carries all the feeling behind the character's desperation to find a cure and just be normal. But what if she can find her own normal when she finds another like her?

I liked this story because it was really not only a physical journey but also a journey of discovery within Lihua (the main character). It unfolded quite well and overall, I enjoyed it.

Britt and the Bike God, by Kody Keplinger

Genre: Contemporary/Slice-of-Life/Chick-Lit

Potential Triggers: Cursing, Using God's Name in Vain, Intense Kissing,

Mental Health Topics: Feeling like a Burden

Britt and the Bike God is a short story about Britt—a blind tandem biker. The story altogether is 19 pages and carries not only Britt's character—humor and all—but also the sense of determination that filled her as she became more and more sight-disabled. She tried to be the best so she wouldn't be the burden. But what if she was the one who people tried not to be a burden for?

This story was really cute, about learning the difference between feeling like a burden and actually being one. It shows how other people's opinions of you can be different than what you thought like they were and that there's really no reason to apologize for yourself when you're just being who you are.

The Leap and the Fall, by Kayla Whaley

Genre: Contemporary/Slice-of-Life

Potential Triggers: Cursing, Denies the Existence of the Holy Spirit, LGBTQ+ topics,

Mental Health Topics: N/A

The Leap and the Fall is a short story about Eloise, a girl in a wheelchair, and her adventurous friend Gemma. It's about 22 pages long, going through their adventure through a mysterious discovery they had in the woods. But how did they get there? Hmm....

This one I didn't like as much as the first two, but it wasn't bad. All the same, I was quite tempted to skip over it. It's mostly just a lot more telling than showing, which I understand since it's a short story, but it was enough that it got irksome for me. That's just my personal opinion though. All in all, I enjoyed the main character and the adventure idea was definitely prominent in the book. It just wasn't my favorite.

Per Aspera Ad Astra, by Katherine Locke

Genre: Sci-Fi

Potential Triggers: Single curse,

Mental Health Topics: Anxiety

Per Aspera Ad Astra is a short story about a girl named Lizzie. Although anxiety-ridden, she has the ability to change her world, but will she take it?

I loved this story. At first, I thought it was going to be another contemporary story, but boy was I in for a surprise—and a quite pleasant one at that. The story is 29 pages long, so a little bit longer, but it's so amazing. I can relate to Lizzie amazingly and while some of the things that happen seem a bit too convenient, I love the conclusion of it all!!

Found Objects, by William Alexander

Genre: Paranormal/Contemporary/Magical Realism

Potential Triggers: Cursing, Magic,

Mental Health Topics: Chronic Pain,

Found Objects is the 13-page short story of an unnamed character who is good at things only at their own expense. If they pour too much of themselves into something? Pain. But nobody can know why they're in pain all the time.

I loved this story. I used to be a huge fan of paranormal and this was a wonderful mix of paranormal and contemporary, forming some amazing magical realism. And the ending... ohhhh, the ending. *melts* I don't have words to go over the whole amazingness of this story, but I absolutely loved it. Maybe you'll beg to differ when you read it, maybe it's just because of how amazing the magic aspect was brought across, but this short story was amazing.

Plus One, by Karuna Riazi

Genre: Contemporary

Potential Triggers: Islamic Religion Stuffs,

Mental Health Topics: Struggling with Self

Plus One is a 27-page story about a girl named Hafsah and her struggle with herself—or rather, with her It. Throughout the story, she has to figure out how to get rid of the part of her that makes life miserable, but what if all she needed to do was let it go?

This story honestly confused me for the majority of it and it wasn't until the end that I'd kinda realized the gist of what happened. If you're not thinking entirely clearly—which admittedly, I wasn't—and/or don't understand a lot of the Islamic religious things, especially how to pronounce things and what they are, then this is going to be really really confused.