Elise is only 15 years old when she decides she’s had enough of life and decides to commit suicide.

The laughing stock at school with no friends, Elise has very little to live for when she decides to end her life one fateful day, but things don’t go exactly as planned when she calls a friend to tell her what she did, and instead is saved by the paramedics.

Now a few months later, Elise is trying to get back to normal when she discovers an underground club in an old warehouse on another night of town. At Start, Elise makes friends for the first time in her life, falls in love, and above all, discovers a hidden passion for DJing.

The more Elise falls in love with her secret life, the more real life threatens to crush her when her secret of almost committing suicide is revealed at school and her life starts to spin out of control again. Can Elise use her new found courage and passion for music to keep her afloat?

The other night, I opened this book, only intending to read a chapter or two, around 10 pm and stayed up reading until 1 pm because I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN.

The description for this book isn’t anything amazing. To be honest, it didn’t really grab me much, but I had read some reviews for it in which people loved it and so I decided to give it a shot. And I’m so glad I did!

This Song Will Save Your Life is less about music and DJing (what first put me off) than it is about Elise’s struggles to be noticed and acknowledged as a human being. She’s been teased ever since she was a kid for no apparent reason other than being herself. Her voice is so raw and real and painful that I started crying from the very beginning, because her voice really resonated with me.

It sounds like a typical coming-of-age story, in which a teen discovers herself and what she loves, but it was so much more. Elise’s struggles with life, a life in which she feels worthless and ignored, were very real. And so it was a joy to watch her blossom across the pages into a young woman who discovered that she had a real talent for music and making other people happy.

The romance in this book doesn’t take center stage, which is something I actually appreciated about the story. Char is a charming guy, and he helps open up Elise to new ideas, but he is not the sole purpose of the life. The entire story remains about Elise and her discovery of a world that she thought she could never fit into.

This book made me laugh, especially when Elise goes about elaborately planning her suicide and all its contingencies, and it made me cry, especially when I remembered my own high school experiences. Sales weaves a story that is full of raw emotion, tears, laughter, and love.

So if you’ve ever felt like you’ve never belonged, read this book. If you’ve ever felt like running away and giving up, read this book. If you’ve ever felt like you’ll never amount to anything, read this book. You won’t be sorry.

So for that: 5/5.

Thanks for reading,

Ikhlas