Review: This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

This Song Will Save Your Life
by Leila Sales 
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Release Date: September 17th, 2013

Format: ARC

Making friends has never been Elise Dembowski’s strong suit. All throughout her life, she’s been the butt of every joke and the outsider in every conversation. When a final attempt at popularity fails, Elise nearly gives up. Then she stumbles upon a warehouse party where she meets Vicky, a girl in a band who accepts her; Char, a cute, yet mysterious disc jockey; Pippa, a carefree spirit from England; and most importantly, a love for DJing. 

 Told in a refreshingly genuine and laugh-out-loud funny voice, THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE is an exuberant novel about identity, friendship, and the power of music to bring people together

This song will save your life starts off with a melancholy tone. We’re introduced to the main character, Elise who is unpopular, friendless and would do anything to change that. She’s unpopular because she’s precocious. She’s different. She doesn’t conform to what society deems acceptable, whether it be fashion, music, looks, or intelligence; she has her own unique style. And that’s why she’s getting bullied. Elise has attempted to change her appearance to fit in, but like she said in the book, it just doesn’t work. And when all this hurt, anger and self-hatred builds up over the years, Elise considers one thing- suicide.

I think that for some people, in order to wholly understand or relate to Elise’s character and the situation she’s in, one has to have experienced bullying to some degree. I, unfortunately can’t 100% relate to her because honestly, I haven’t encountered bullying to her extent. I might’ve been bullied back in first or second grade when I couldn’t speak English, but that hasn’t had a profound impact on my life considering 1) I couldn’t understand what the bullies said to me and 2) I don’t remember all the details. As mean as it sounds, sometimes I felt she didn’t entirely try to fit in despite how much she wanted to. She says she wants friends but I think what she really means is, ‘I want popular friends’. I didn’t like how Elise treated Sally and Chava at the beginning of the book; they truly tried to be her friend, but she pretty much thought “I’d rather not have losers as friends”. However, I’m glad Elise matured and realised that sometimes, you have to make an effort to make friends.

I highly enjoyed getting to know Elise’s new bunch of friends from Start, the town’s best underground dance club. I loved how through a mutual passion for music, Elise is able to meet some of the best friends a person could ask for. Vicky is the sort of friend everyone needs in their life; she genuinely cares about Elise and doesn’t judge. She stands up for her friends, is supportive, encouraging and I love how she took Elise under her wing without a second thought. I loved Mel, Harry and Dave as well<3 As for Pippa and Char, while I didn’t like their actions, I felt they were realistic representations of people in our society today. My feelings towards Char are conflicted; on one hand he seemed like he genuinely wanted to help Elise learn to DJ, and even encouraged her to pursue her love for DJing, but on the other hand, he also showed a selfish and slightly manipulative side. He's the type who helps people only if he's certain their abilities are beneath his & will never surpass him. He helps those he doesn’t have faith in. I didn't like this side of him but his character did feel realistic. 

I personally believe this is one of the most powerful YA contemporary books that holds the ability to leave a profound impact on its readers. It is thought-provoking, beautiful and a realistic story of self-discovery, and I would strongly recommend it to everyone. I’ll admit that I couldn’t relate to Elise’s actions/thoughts at times but I can’t pretend to understand what a person who has been bullied her entire life would feel/do. Music plays an integral role in this book, and I should mention that Elise has convinced me to well…listen to songs that are out of my comfort zone. So guys, definitely read this when you have time! I’m eagerly anticipating Sales’ next project :)

*Guys, you MUST read Emily May’s review ofThis Song Will Save Your Life. I cried- no kidding- I  cried while reading it, and I  never cry when I read reviews!

**If any poor Year 12s from NSW who are conducting a frantic search for a Belonging related text just happens to stumble across this post, I would highly recommend considering reading/using this book!

 A massive thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing for providing a copy of  This Song Will Save Your Life for review!