Say What You Will, by Cammie McGovern
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Say What You Will, by Cammie McGovern
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John Green's The Fault in Our Stars meets Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park in this beautifully written, incredibly honest, and emotionally poignant novel. Cammie McGovern's insightful young adult debut is a heartfelt and heartbreaking story about how we can all feel lost until we find someone who loves us because of our faults, not in spite of them.
Born with cerebral palsy, Amy can't walk without a walker, talk without a voice box, or even fully control her facial expressions. Plagued by obsessive-compulsive disorder, Matthew is consumed with repeated thoughts, neurotic rituals, and crippling fear. Both in desperate need of someone to help them reach out to the world, Amy and Matthew are more alike than either ever realized.
When Amy decides to hire student aides to help her in her senior year at Coral Hills High School, these two teens are thrust into each other's lives. As they begin to spend time with each other, what started as a blossoming friendship eventually grows into something neither expected.
Say What You Will, by Cammie McGovern - Amazon Sales Rank: #41498 in Books
- Brand: McGovern, Cammie
- Published on: 2015-05-05
- Released on: 2015-05-05
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.00" h x .83" w x 5.31" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 368 pages
Say What You Will, by Cammie McGovern Amazon.com Review Q&A with Cammie McGovern
Curtis Sittenfeld is the bestselling author of American Wife, The Man of My Dreams, and Prep. Recently, she sat down with fellow author Cammie McGovern to chat about Cammie’s debut YA novel, Say What You Will. Read the resulting interview below.
Curtis: You've written several well-received novels for adults. Did you consciously decide to shift to writing a YA novel, or did you write the novel you wanted to write and it turned out to be YA?
Cammie: It’s impossible to be a parent, reading aloud to young kids and later on, sharing books with your teens, and not be tempted to try your hand at writing it yourself. That said, SAY WHAT YOU WILL originally started out as an adult mystery. Amy was much the same: a highly intelligent, very disabled young woman who disappears a few weeks after her graduation from Stanford. The problem was: it never worked. The only part I liked was a relatively small subplot where one of her helpers—Matthew—talks about the year they spent together in high school and how he felt like Amy was the best friend he’d ever made. For no reason that I planned, he was her only helper who hadn’t gone to college and was far less successful than the others, but—somehow—he was the most appealing thing in the book.
So I started over and wrote a bunch of new scenes with Amy and Matthew back in high school. Talking honestly. Getting to know each other. Once I picked this path, it clicked into place quickly and I wrote the book in about eight months. I tell this story because I so appreciate when writers admit how LONG it takes them to find a story that works. It’s an arduous process that only looks easy after you’ve finished the book. I also have to add, very happily, that I’ve fallen in love with YA and now have no plans to write anything else!
Curtis: Along the same lines, did you specifically want to write about characters with disabilities? Did you intend to overturn certain stereotypes (for instance, that being disabled makes one uninterested in sex)?
Cammie: I’m interested in writing about characters with disabilities, in part, because I live with one (my eighteen-year-old son, Ethan, has autism) and partly because the smartest thing I did after he was diagnosed was help start an organization called Whole Children that runs recreational programs for kids, teens, and young adults with disabilities. In the last two decades, the lives of kids with disabilities have changed dramatically. Thanks to mainstreaming, the majority are attending public schools with supports in place and aides to facilitate. What this means—I think—is that today’s typically-developing kids are more aware of people with disabilities than their parents were, but they don’t necessarily know them any better. I suspect much of the time, the kid with the disability is still a mysterious presence in the back of the classroom with an adult aide by their side and a very few kid-friends. I wanted Matthew to be like I would have been: fascinated by that person, and scared of her, too.
The other staggering change for teenagers with disabilities is that there are so many more of them now. According to the 2012 US Government Disability Statistics, there are over 1.2 million teenagers between the ages of 16-20 who identify themselves as living with a disability severe enough to affect their future independence. Over a million! This is the largest minority group in America and, I’d have to wager, the most underrepresented in books, movies, TV shows, and popular culture. I’d love to see that change in the coming years.
Now that I’ve gotten to know MANY teens with disabilities, I’d have to say, yes, they defy all stereotypes, including one of the biggest ones: That they aren’t interested in relationships and sex. The more I’ve read on the subject, the more I realize, with educated, supportive assistance, the happiness factor goes up exponentially when teens with disabilities have loving, supportive friendships of all kinds. This is what Amy intuits so much better than her mother and why she fights so hard to establish a real relationship with Matthew.
Curtis: Your sister is the actress Elizabeth McGovern, who's currently starring as Cora Crawley in Downton Abbey. What kind of home did you grow up in that turned out two successful artists?
Cammie: We grew up—along with our older brother, Monty, who is a math professor at University of Washington—as the children of two teachers (our father was a law school professor, our mother a high school English teacher). Our house was full of books and even though I was a secret TV addict as a child and not a particularly voracious reader, the effect was still the same—books, and the conversations they inspired, were valued above everything else. My sister was an early inspiration because she was bold and self-confident about wanting to be an actress at a very young age, even when our parents were frantically steering her in other, more practical directions. She was also very kind about my writing before I had any discernible talent, mostly because I don’t think she liked standing alone in the artistic spotlight. (She might be an actress for a living but she’s a surprisingly shy one, and doesn’t relish the limelight. I’m a much more social creature than she is.) Mostly I learned from her early example that to become an artist takes a certain self-confidence—and not a showy, arrogant kind, but a quiet one lodged deep within one’s heart that this is, very simply, what you want to do. I suspect our parents, while worrying about these impractical career choices, also, in their own way, cheered them on: Our mother is a wonderful writer herself. Her letters are witty and full of warmth and finding one at the bottom of a drawer can instantly transport me back in time. Our father, in a different incarnation, should have been an actor himself, as any of his friends who were in his “Shakespearean Play Reading Group” can attest. I think they’re all still recovering from the surprise of him showing up to the first meeting dressed as King Lear complete with a towel cape and a cardboard crown.
From School Library Journal Gr 9 Up—Amy has cerebral palsy, and has spent the past 17 years with walkers, voice boxes, and adults. She's gone through school at the same pace as her peers but without friends or socializing. When one of her classmates, Matthew, challenges her cheerful facade, Amy realizes she's missed out on developing true peer relationships. So for their senior year, Amy asks her parents to pay classmates to be her companions instead of her usual adult aids. She begs Matthew to apply, and the two embark on a friendship that addresses Amy's limitations, Matthew's own disorder, and all their secrets—all except the one they really need to share. Both teens struggle with their realities and limitations, and a love soon develops between them. The harsh reality of high school social dynamics are authentically portrayed. The main characters are well developed, though secondary characters are little more than background noise. Recommend to fans of John Green's The Fault In Our Stars (Dutton, 2012) and realistic fiction with a love story angle.—Natalie Struecker, Rock Island Public Library, IL
From Booklist *Starred Review* It isn’t that words fail Amy: she has plenty to tell, and her wry and witty mind is unaffected by her cerebral palsy. Her speech, though, is incomprehensible, so a talking computer speaks for her. To move in her body, she requires a walker and a helper to assist her between classes. But she is fiercely independent, and for her senior year, she has decided that students her own age will be her school aides. Maybe that will help with the one area she has struggled to master her whole life—making real friends—as she prepares to transition to college. Matthew, stunted and isolated by his obsessive-compulsive disorder, signs on to assist Amy and inadvertently embarks on a self-improvement project that she passionately encourages. As they lean on each other and their relationship deepens, even as they each inch toward independence, Amy and Matthew test the boundaries of their self-determination and their friendship, much to the disappointment of Amy’s worried mother. Exhilarating and heartrending, McGovern’s YA debut has a similar odd-couple camaraderie as Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park (2013) and the raw exploration of disability in R. J. Palacio’s Wonder (2012). With a smart, proud, and capable protagonist eager to take her life by the reins, this novel is stunning. Grades 9-12. --Lexi Walters Wright
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Most helpful customer reviews
59 of 60 people found the following review helpful. Different from anything that I've read before! By Spiced Latte From the very beginning, I was looking forward to this book about of its premise. Although I have to say that I haven't read The Fault in Our Stars or Eleanor & Park (yes, I know it's a shame, don't judge), I put this on my tbr list as soon as I read the summary on Goodreads. Say What You Will is so different from anything that I have ever read before. In my entire life I have never read about a handicapped girl who is so brilliant to the point that I forgot about her disability & was awed at how incredible she was.Quote: “Instead of beauty, I have a face no one envies and a body no one would choose to live in. These two factors alone have freed up my days to pursue what other girls my age might also do if their strong legs weren't carrying them to dance and parties and places that feed a lot of insecurities...”I loved reading about her relationship with Matthew. They are two people that couldn't be more different and more similar at the same time. Born with cerebral palsy, Amy doesn't see herself as someone who should miss out on life just because she needs a voice box to communicate. & Matthew realizes that he has OCD which could get into a way of his friendship with Amy.Quote: “I asked if I could help you because I've never been able to do that for anyone. I wanted to see if I could. It's terrible always being the person who need help. I'm sorry if I misjudged everything. I'm so new at having friends that I make mistakes sometimes...”Books that leave me speechless are the worst to write a review for because my emotions simply can't be transferred into words. Cammie McGovern is so talented, I absolutely love her writing and the way she develops her characters. Definitely becoming one of my new favorite authors, McGovern is the author to watch for & be on the look out for new novels!
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful. An Honest and Heartbreaking YA Contemporary Novel! By Stephanie Ward 'Say What You Will' is a heartbreakingly honest look at the life of two teens who are disabled in their own ways - and how they come to realize how much they needed one another without knowing it. The two main characters in the story - Amy, who has cerebral palsy - and Matthew, who has OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) are both incredibly realistic in all their aspects - both good and bad. We get to see these two teens for who they are - their personalities, likes and dislikes, fears, frustrations, and how they live with their respective illnesses. I loved the honesty that the author wrote with - with both the characters, the illnesses and how it effects those with the disease and those around them, and basically teenage life in general. She shows us that just because these two are diagnosed with illnesses, they aren't very different at all from the regular teenager.The writing was beautifully done - especially the characters and their growing relationship with each other. I loved how we got to know both Amy and Matthew for their true selves and then we got to watch how their lives become entwined. This book is a definite emotional roller coaster - there were points that were funny, some that were sobering, and some that had me crying hysterically. I found it easy to slip into the world the author created within the first few paragraphs, and I didn't stop reading until I was finished - and then even after that, because it kept me thinking and feeling for quite some time afterwords. I thought the plot was original, if not completely unique, and written with a natural flow and easy pace. It seems that more and more YA contemporary books are revolving around characters who are sick in some way, but the the depth of the characters and the interesting story line made this one original and fresh. I don't do spoilers in my reviews, so I'll just say that you should prepare yourself before reading this one. As I mentioned, it took me on a ride - from laughing to crying and everything in between. Definitely recommended for fans of the genre as well as those looking for an honest and emotional young adult novel.Disclosure: I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful. Amazing, thoughtful, funny.....Everyone should read this book! By K. Sowa My shamefully limited knowledge of books that have main characters with disabilities really left me wanting more. I never felt connected to the characters because they seemed more like A DIAGNOSIS and less like a person. In SAY WHAT YOU WILL, Cammie McGovern wrote about two people, two funny, quirky, and lonely people, and let the reader see their friendship develop into something beautiful. In many ways, Matthew’s OCD cripples him much more than Amy’s CP limits her, and while that reversal of thinking (the girl with the physical disability is actually the least disabled) restructured my preconceived ideas about their relationship dynamic, it really wasn’t about rescuing anyone. It was about setting aside fears, limitations, and appearances, and taking a chance at opening up to another human being.Say What You Will was a wonderful illustration of the idea that we are more than the sum of our outside parts and we are more than our limitations. That sounds like such an obvious thing to know, yet I think that most people go through their day thinking that they know people based on what they see, not based on real interaction. This book didn’t just change the way I might see a person with a physical disability, it reminded me that we all struggle in one way or another. Amy and Matthew were a unique duo, sure, but also not so very unlike any other teens; they felt lonely, had insecurities, wondered about the future, wanted more from their parents, and wanted less from their parents. I can’t adequately express how this book grabbed my heart, but it did, and I guarantee you that it will grab your heart, as well. I laughed out loud, I winced, and I got a little teary while reading Say What You Will. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to expand your world by reading this book.
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