In Sloane’s world, true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.
Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.
Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in. And The Program is coming for them.
Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.
Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in. And The Program is coming for them.
Title: The Program (The Program #1)
Author: Suzanne Young
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: April 28, 2013
Review:
It's been a long time since I read a good Dystopian series and been engulfed enough in the world to truly want to continue. Sadly, this one was not that series.
I read this book as a buddy read with my friend and seriously had to push through to finish it. I didn't care about the world or the characters enough.
Let's start with the world building. Society has a rampant uptick in the suicides of young people; teenagers to be exact. So they create a program where the symptoms are recognized and teens are brought to centers to have the memories the government considers tainted (leading to depressive and suicidal thoughts) wiped clean from their minds. While this idea is interesting, I just didn't fully understand the connection of leaving some things while wiping away other things. In our lives, things are always connected and no matter how hard we might want to wipe our minds clean of something, those connections can't ever been truly severed. Yet, they give these kids some kind of pills to do just that. Do I have any idea how the pills work? Not really. There is a brief description of it but it didn't fully let me grasp how it happened. Combine that with the lack of world building and I just didn't find myself caring enough about this dystopian world. I wanted more of a description of how the suicides progressed in the past. How the program was created? Who created it? Why was there an uptick? Instead, I got a flat story that really seemed to go nowhere.
Next we have the characters. Were they likeable? Enough so that I pushed to get through the story but not enough for me to truly care about them. They were quite underdeveloped for me. Sloane was very flat and I didn't find her relatable. I hated her neediness and dependency, as well. When I read dystopia, I always want to root for the main character to expose the terrible government and overtake it, or at least bring it to its knees. Sloane would never in my wildest dreams be able to do this. She's way too timid and does not come across as smart enough to even pull it off. Her relationship with James seemed completely forced, especially given their more solidified connection after her brother's suicide. There was nothing in depth about their connection other than that. I just didn't see it. And then we get introduced to another male character, Realm, that creates a sort of love triangle that I really didn't need. Plus, I just didn't trust Realm at all. Overall the romance in this book was too cheesey for me to like it and route for it, whatever it might have been.
The pacing was very slow for me. I felt like it wasn't moving or going anywhere. I was actually quite bored. It's not until the very end of the book that we even get any real action. And even that wasn't particularly shock worthy.
Finally, the writing. I found it juvenile. Yes, I know this is YA, but I've ready a lot of YA where the writing flowed and was beautiful. This is not that. And I expected more from the author as far as diving into depression and suicide but, sadly, the author chose not to do that and it left me feeling like she didn't do enough research even for a fictional plot line.
I wanted more from this story than it gave. I pushed through because I was reading with someone and we had a timeline we wanted to reach. And now that I see it's six books, I don't think I can move on without being annoyed at the whole thing.
Suzanne Young is the New York Times bestselling author of The Program, The Treatment, and several other novels. She currently lives in Tempe, Arizona where she teaches high school English and obsesses about books. Learn more about Suzanne at www.suzanne-young.blogspot.com
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