āThe thing with my platform if thatās what you want to call it, or social media, is most people donāt want your opinion. They want to hear their own views told back to them in your voice. Also, if Iām being honest, I donāt like the word awareness. We need to stop using that word. I donāt think thereās anybody who isnāt aware of autism anymore. At this point, weāre all aware, there are just people who choose to be ignorant fucks. Same with mental health, sexuality, gender. Theyāre awareā¦They just choose not to care.ā
Bring Me Home by Nicola Haken is truly one of the most beautiful, emotional, and REAL books weāve read this year. Ā We love highlighting quotes and passages when we read, words that either resonate with us or stand out because of their beauty, heartbreak, love, or joy. We chose a handful of these for our review to try and convey the story and our emotions. Well, with Bring Me Home we have highlighted over ten pages worth, whole pages and so many gems of emotion that we will struggled to choose just a few for this review.
āIād grown up knowing I was different, that something in my head wasnāt working properly, and I couldnāt understand why no one could fix it. How could they? Iād think. I couldnāt talk to people.ā
Hugo and Helenās story can at times read a bit like a fanfic borne out of love for Harry Styles, however classing it as only that, would be a great disservice to this Author. The writing is phenomenal, the characters incredible and the themes so very relevant. Mental health, peopleās daily battles, spectrum disorders, or even ājustā day-to-day struggles with who we are or want to be because society strives for perfection. We say ājustā but really, thereās nothing just ājustā about it. The struggles are real, they canāt be measured, and they canāt be generalised, nor do they fit in a -one size fits all- box. Everyoneās struggles or difficulties are valid.
āHeli, the scales can only give you a numerical reflection of your bodyās relationship with gravity. They canāt tell you how pretty your smile is, how cute this dimple is or how compassionate your heart is. They wonāt tell you how loved you are or how you just being in a room with someone can make them feel like the most important person in the fucking worldā¦ā
Transparency, understanding, presence, and guidance are so vital, as is reassurance and ābeing thereā for the differences, for the break-downs, for the highs as well as the lows. Bring Me Home is a journey, a story of life, love, and perceived social expectations and gratifications. It is not an easy read at times but itās beautiful in its acute relevance as it bares its soul to the reader, word by word.
āI couldnāt see the point of life if we didnāt feel it. The sound above was just a sound. The cedar tree in the distance, nothing but an image. The music had gone, the beauty, the purpose. Iād become a shell. A robot. I could move but I wasnāt alive. Life didnāt exist when you couldnāt hear lyrics in a birdās song, when you didnāt see a view looking at a century old tree. Life without art, without passion, made no sense.ā
The way in which Nicola Haken wrote Hugo Hayes and Helen Jenkinsā childhood friendship and adult romance was incredibly raw, incredibly honest, and incredibly realistic. There are no quick fixes for what people can face, some things canāt even, in all truthfulness, be fixed. Yet friendship and love can make them easier to live with because with love comes understanding, compassion, and acceptance. Love can come in so many guises and people can come in all shapes of colourful tapestry. So yes, we cried, we laughed, and we fell in love. We questioned, we tutted, we despaired, and we celebrated. What a truly compelling and stunning journey we were on with Hugo and Heli. One we cannot recommend highly enough. This is not simply just storytelling, Bring Me Home is an experience!
āYou can stop hiding now, Hugo. Iāve found you. Iām not leaving and youāre going to be okay. Now, sleep. Sleep and remember I love you.ā
I just hope itās enough to save you.
