A girl with no friends is how Elise Dembowski sees herself.
Her girl pals drift away from her. Her clothes aren't
cool, she doesn't hang out in the right places, nobody
chats with her. She makes a big effort to start a new
school year, with new teenage fashions, and all that
happens is a kid on the bus steals her I-Pod. She sits with
other girls for lunch, and they tell her to put their trash
in the bin.
THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE shows that Elise decides her
life is so empty that she will kill herself. It's the
fault of the girls at school, she thinks, so she should
write a note to blame them. She tries cutting herself just
to see how it feels, but then can't stop the blood; and she
realises that she didn't want to die, she just wanted
attention. Well, now she's got it. Months later Elise has
turned sixteen and people still tread carefully around her.
She meets some older girls, Vicky and Pippa, one night and
lies her way in to an underground dance party. She's only
interested in the music. A DJ called Char gets to know her
and they discuss their favourite songs and artists, and
then she buys turntables and a mix desk to practise.
Finally there is something she can do, something that might
make her popular - though she's deceiving her parents.
This young adult read starts out with a whiny, nobody-likes-
me atmosphere, but once the music and older crowd come
along the tale takes off fast. I learned a lot about the
skills involved in cueing up songs and matching beats to
synchronise the start of one song with the end of the
previous one. Meanwhile back at high school the sadly all
too familiar story of online bullying occurs - I'm just
glad I left school before that started. While Elise is
mature enough to know she shouldn't risk drinking alcohol,
the older girls are drinking, and we see it's not always
with good consequences.
Many young people have a tough time at school - often the
brighter kids. Not all of them feel they need to be
liked. Elise did feel that way, and that made her all the
easier to deride and bully. The best advice I can give
such young people is to find an interest outside school and
meet friends that way. Exactly like Leila Sales is showing
us in her book, in fact, with the edginess of the adult
dance club for extra excitement. Lots of young adults will
identify with THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE. And it's a
very good read.
Making friends has never been Elise Dembowski’s strong suit.
All throughout her life, she’s been the butt of every joke
and the outsider in every conversation. When a final attempt
at popularity fails, Elise nearly gives up. Then she
stumbles upon a warehouse party where she meets Vicky, a
girl in a band who accepts her; Char, a cute, yet mysterious
disc jockey; Pippa, a carefree spirit from England; and most
importantly, a love for DJing
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