Here is my no-spoiler review of The Existence of Amy by Lana Grace Riva. (4/5 stars)
The Existence of Amy follows the story of a young woman who seems to live the perfect life from the outside looking in. But inside Amy is dealing with undiagnosed mental health problems that are beginning to rule her life. They are affecting her ability to live, work and have a relationship with anyone.
Amy loves her job and has a great relationship with her work collegues despite the fact that she cancels many of there plans due to her over excessive worrying over small tasks. Even riding the bus to work is a stressful expeirence for her, and at times it can all be very overwhelming leading to a downwards spiral. After fidning out one of her closest friends, Ed, is moving to Singapore with his wife. Amy finds herself on a bigger spiral than she’s ever expeirenced before.
I could relate a lot to Amy and the situation she has found herself in, she can still remember a happier time in her life and is wishing for that time to come back but isn’t quite sure whether that’s even possible. She has a fairly good support system available to her with her work collegues but she refuses to let them in and struggles alone. She finds it easier to block of the world than to ‘face the music’ which I can relate to.
There is no real drama in this book, other than Amy’s daily struggles with her Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Depression but it was fast paced and didn’t loose my attention once. This is the kind of book that you can enjoy in one sitting as it’s very easy to read or you could just pick up it up here and there without any issues of getting back into the story.
I do believe that The Existence of Amy gives a realistic example of what it is like to live with mental health problems and how much of your life they can affect and about how quickly thing can spiral. This book delves deep into Amy’s inner working’s with her OCD and her depression.You can really begin to understand how she feels about life and how she manages to try and cope with everything that is going on within her head. We can also witness her mental illness progressing during the book until the point where she needs someone else to interviene. I did find myself getting a bit emotional during certain parts of this novel as I felt I could truly understand how she felt during harder parts in her life.
I fond myself rooting for Amy as I wanted so deeply for her to find hapiness and to be able to overcome her barriers and I’m sure I won’t be alone in this feeling. I am left wanting to know what happens after the ending of this book and I can only hope that Amy’s life manages to improve to a state where she can regain what she felt she had lost and that she can continue to flourish.
I can’t really fault this book at all, it is well written and I enjoyed following Amy’s stories. I’d be interested in reading more of Lana’s books as this one was very easy to read and I can say I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
‘Hi Amy, how’s thing?’
‘Good thanks.’ I lie.
You can buy your copy of The Existence of Amy here from Amazon. (Affiliate Link)
