Upcoming Release Review: A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares

***Upcoming Release!***

A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares

by Krystal Sutherland

9780399546594

Age Range: 14 & up

Release Date: September 5, 2017

G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Everyone is afraid of something. Whether it be heights or snakes or small spaces, there’s an entity that triggers a nerve for everyone. For this reader, it’s spiders and what I like to call a very healthy respect for the ocean (It’s an incredibly complex and fascinating place, but let’s be realistic here. Anything that lives there can move a lot faster than I can and will undoubtedly see me before I see it.). Esther Solar doesn’t know what her great fear is, but she has a list of fifty possibilities. For the Solar family is cursed, and each member is destined to die by the hand of their fear. Therefore, as long as she keeps a list of possible fears to avoid, Esther can never develop a full-on phobia and risk death by, say…lobster.

A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares is a powerful examination of phobia, and while the novel begins as a quirky contemporary exploring a seemingly innocent array of fears, it quickly begins peeling back the layers to show the very-real effects of serious phobia. Esther’s father was moving along perfectly normally until one day in the basement he was hit with a spontaneous and intense conviction that horrible things would happen if he left it. He hasn’t ascended the basement steps in six years. When faced with suddenly supporting the whole family on her own, Esther’s mother turned to the casino in a fit of desperation and now has charms everywhere to ward off bad luck. Esther’s twin brother Eugene has a deep-rooted fear of the dark, convinced he can see monsters that will get him if he’s out of the light for even a second.

These deep and serious issues are at first played off as effects of the family curse, and this diversionary tactic is what is so powerful about this story. The curse acts as a shield so Esther doesn’t have to face the reality of what she and the rest of her family are facing. Esther has severe, crippling anxiety, and the curse is a way of both coping with and avoiding these real-life issues. Eugene has a fear of the dark, yes, but he also has severe depression and doesn’t feel as though he belongs in this world. Sensing this but seeing it through the lens of the curse, Esther perceives Eugene as flickering in and out of existence as though actually made of light, and fears one day he’ll just disappear completely. Her mother’s apparent fear of bad luck and obsession with charms is truly a gambling addiction, and her father has severe agoraphobia. Her best friend Hephzibah has select mutism, and Esther describes her as a wraith, floating along in a ghost-like way.

When Esther reunites with a childhood friend who is determined to help her conquer her list of fears and hereby break the curse, she begins to see the reality of the fears those around her face. This exploration of fear and the individual journeys to come to terms with them is at the heart of the novel. People face these problems every day. Anxiety, depression, addiction, these are not issues one just decides to wake up and conquer one day. It takes time, and everyone will execute different methods to keep things in control. What Esther learns is incredibly important, and that is to pay attention to the people around you. To recognize when they may be battling something and step in where you can. Equally crucial is how Esther then looks inward, recognizing and acknowledging what she is truly afraid of and how to stand up to it. Powerful and thought-provoking, A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares hits the shelves in September, and Sutherland’s (author of Our Chemical Hearts) newest is sure to resonate.