Seven months after her boyfriend and parents die tragically on the same night, eighteen-year-old Brynn—once an aspiring singer, now desperate for any paying gig that will keep her from ending up on the streets—sets out to rebuild her shattered world. At her new ad agency job, she’s distracted by enigmatic twenty-year-old Micah. Their enemies-to-lovers attraction ignites as both struggle with secrets that could jeopardize far more than just their budding relationship.
After things turn romantic with Brynn, Micah’s psychosis becomes harder to conceal. Living with his disorder has cost him relationships before, including with his estranged father; now he fears Brynn will become the next casualty.
Things are already complicated enough before a mystery girl from Brynn’s boyfriend’s past comes forward with threatening information and unfinished business of her own. Will she reveal Brynn’s secret—and steal Micah away from her in the process?
Review
Heather Cumiskey’s The Sooner I Go is a contemporary drama, with a central romance and whodunnit vibes that add layers of interest. Taken as a whole, I thought this was a solid read, although I couldn’t help but linger on certain elements of the book that I felt could have been strengthened.
The synopsis intrigued me: because how often do you see a character living with psychosis as a realistic, relatively grounded romantic interest? Micah was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager, and lives with visual hallucinations. There is much to praise regarding the portrayal. After all, schizophrenia is famous for being the subject of misrepresentation and stigmatised character arcs and plotlines in fiction. Contrasting this, Micah is an attractive, respected, privileged character. He maintains a corporate job and has a high degree of insight into his condition, although he experiences a sense of shame – resulting in concealing his diagnosis, and masking in public. The novel examines the challenges of long-term management, including both medical treatment and peer support.
Reading this novel as a mental health professional, I did slightly question some elements of the representation, specifically relating to his symptoms. The novel highlights Micah’s experiences with visual hallucinations, although the most common type of hallucination in schizophrenia is auditory (e.g., hearing voices). Micah references auditory hallucinations at a late stage in the book, but I did not realise they were part of his experience until this scene. It could have been interesting – even immersive – to show Micah hearing voices. Further, I felt the book missed an opportunity to acknowledge other common symptoms of schizophrenia, like delusions, disorganised speech and mood impacts. Regardless, quite a few online reviews have praised the representation, although I have not seen any reviews written by a person disclosing lived experience of schizophrenia or psychosis. I acknowledge that this is only one portrayal of schizophrenia, and like many mental health conditions, everyone experiences different combinations of symptoms and different impacts.
Zooming out to the rest of the book, there was a lot to like. We spend much time in Brynn’s head, as she copes with the grief over the shocking deaths of her boyfriend and parents, and tries to make ends meet after being thrown into poverty. The setting – the bustling New York ad agency – was fairly interesting. I found myself wishing a few times that the characters had been aged up. For example, the character of Micah, aged only 20, felt like he was written to be late 20s based on his maturity and career progression (even with the nepotism!).
Overall, I recommend The Sooner I Go for those who seek a twisty contemporary novel, or those who are interested in portrayals of an underrepresented mental health condition.
Thank you to Sparkpoint Studio for the review copy.
Review by Elise
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