Marisa Reichardt

Violence at any age does a number on people. Violence, coupled with guilt is even worse, but add in the stress of being part of a financially with a mentally ill parent, as well as having a perfectionist streak and you've got a perfect storm. Meet Morgan. She did something intended as an act of kindness on the last day she went to school and has been unable to forgive herself or anyone else since.
School shootings are sadly common these days, but what do we know about the effects on the show more surviving kids? In Underwater, the author introduces us to someone who thought she could handle the aftermath of a massacre at her school, but the longer she tried to get on with life, the more her world shrank until it consisted of her family's apartment. She gave up her best friends, competitive swimming and life in general, rerunning scenes from the horrific day at school in between her online classes.
When Evan moves into the adjacent apartment with his mother, Morgan is conflicted. He looks hot, but kind, a combination she's not used to. He won't let her ignore him, in part because of a connection they have that she never knew about. She's also working with Brenda, a therapist with a tough exterior, but a compassionate and understanding interior who hints at having similarities to Morgan.
When her kindergartener brother gets a part in a school play, his eagerness to have her attend the performance creates a whole new level of stress. In addition is the pain and uncertainty generated by her father's own PTSD and alcoholism after five tours in military war zones. He's vanished again and this hurts because Morgan has lots of memories of how great he was when she was little.
It takes love, kindness and some real pushing by Evan and Brenda in order for Morgan to finally look at her role in the tragedy and what she can do to regain her life. The process isn't easy and seldom follows a straight line, but neither does real life.
Marisa has done a wonderful job of using the events of that day as well as other aspects of each characters' life to show readers successive layers in order to keep them in the moment and hooked on what happens next. This is a great book for both school and public libraries to have in their collection. show less

This book infantilizes people with agoraphobia. This isn't rep at all. It's mockery. I have severe agoraphobia, and have had it for several years. I should have identified with the MC hardcore. Instead, I was revulsed. She gets online school because why? What? In this day and age? No. A lot of stuff is glossed over in this. Readers are left to put together the pieces of a puzzle that's vaguely outlined. The prose is backstroking in urple (thanks to Das_Sporking for the phrase). "He pulled me show more to his mouth by my cheekbones," is a particularly outlandish example. So...reading the synopsis, Twu Wuv with a side of Take Me Now, set off by a cute boy, cures agoraphobia. It does NOT. Apparently there's demisexual rep in here and uh, I did not pick up on it. Given the author's writing style, she should have rammed it in every other page. It would have been a nice change of pace from OOOOH TEH SAAAAAD AGORAPHOBE is a fucking whiny ten-year-old in a high schooler's body. Her therapist makes house calls and is only a few years older than her? WHAT?! THAT IS SO RARE IN AMERICA. There are rare exceptions. It is unlikely that a teenager with agoraphobia would be the exception. The book would need to set it up much, much more than "I can't leave the house teehee drama". At MOST, she'd get telephone treatment and physically going to an appointment would be a form of exposure therapy if not a goal! And of course, teh young hot therapist is totes supercool. UGH. When the plague hit, I got online medical treatment. It opened up a whole world for me, and I thrived. I asked for telephone treatment after my computer crashed. It turned out excellent. Unless MC's therapist went to college early, she wouldn't have been able to complete grad school. On average, she'd complete college at twenty-two and go onto grad school for more years, then complete her hours. It takes three to five years. On average, she'd be twenty-five or twenty-eight. That is -not- "a few years older than me." Unless the MC has a crush on her therapist and is justifying it to herself. When I was fifteen, I had a huge crush on a teacher who was nine years older than me. I told myself dreamily that nine years was not a big difference. It was an enormous difference. I think that's what the MC is doing, with her "twenty-seven is not that much older than sixteen" nonsense. Be quiet, you offensive interpretation of a severely misunderstood illness. Her desire for routine--eating the same meal of tomato soup and grilled cheese every day, watching the same programs over and over--could indicate OCD, as well. I have that too, but it shows up extremely differently. I think the MC was under-diagnosed and she likely needs a new therapist with new treatment methods rather that -sitting on a couch in a client's home-.

The ending was just--I am not reading any more from this author until she learns to actually talk to kids with these problems and how they are handled realistically. Alcoholic divorced parents -and- children with agoraphobia, and especially survivors of school shootings. Instead, she churned out this and calls it amazing. UGH. show less

I'm kind of sick of the pandemic so it surprised me when I saw this book on the topic of anti-vaxxers and really wanted to read it. I probably wouldn't have if it was about COVID itself, but being on the peripheral it interested me just enough to pick it up.

I'm glad I did. It was really good. Juniper is a fantastic character. She can be a bit whiny (but what teen isn't?) but overall she was a pretty mature teen who was haunted by the decisions her parents have made for her and looking to show more atone for the outcome.

I felt really sorry for her to be honest. I mean for all she keeps saying I killed, I was at fault - she was a victim too. Especially when she's blamed by everyone else - after all she goes and tries to get vaccinated and gets told she needs parental permission - she goes to a bunch of different lawyers and gets told she needs parental permission. Well if you need parental permission, the need to blame shouldn't be taken out on Juniper. It probably doesn't help that I'm a pro vaxxer - I was 100% on Juniper's side.

It also didn't help that her parents are set up to be narrow minded and caricatures of anti-vaxxers. They were immature brats who had only one train of thought, no matter who approached them - and yes, there probably are people like this, but a person is more than one thing. I don't feel the author did a good job of conveying that here. I mean the parents give her silent treatment. They completely freeze Juniper out when they don't get their own way. There are two younger siblings in the house that are affected by the tension. It irritated me that they cared so little about that - when Juniper was doing everything she could to minimise the tension - she's supposed to be the child for godsakes.

I really liked her grandparents though. I wanted to see more of them and for them to hear the whole story and chip in their opinion but we never really get to see that confrontation happen. I think an actual discussion with the entire family (or at least the adults and Juniper) would've been really interesting and would've add more depth to the parents and their viewpoints.

I did like that Juniper wins her court case but I wasn't impressed with the parents reactions to it - and I wasn't pleased with the ending. It was too abrupt. I wanted to see more of the aftermath. How do they resolve things between them? Because it definitely wasn't as simple as getting the shots and moving on. Especially when they'd been ignoring her prior to.

I loved Nico and Juniper's relationship with him. It was sweet and fun and added a lightheartedness to the text that allowed it to explore the anti-vaxxer issue without it being too heavy. I enjoyed Nico teaching Juniper about teen pop culture and classic movies. And his mum was brilliant. And so was Laurel. I loved that Laurel was willing to support Juniper in her choices and help her to prepare her court case.

Overall an enjoyable read about a controversial issue. 4 stars. show less

Morgan Grant is probably one of my all-time favorite YA characters. She’s a survivor. She works hard to deal with her past trauma and tries to get better. She tries to support her family, even to the point of causing herself additional emotional turmoil. Plus, anyone who goes out of their way to be kind to others is an instant like in my book. In addition to Morgan and many other beautifully written characters, the true magic of this book is in the delivery of the prose. Marissa show more Reichert’s writing carries such a unique, lyrical quality that it’s impossible not to get caught up in this story of a girl’s struggles with anxiety. Underwater deserves all the praise it’s received and more. show less