if i fall, if i die -- a book review

Michael Christie's If I Fall, If I Die is a coming of age story about an 11-year-old son of a mother suffering from mental illness, from severe agoraphobia.  Diane has returned with Will to her childhood home in Thunder Bay, Ontario, by way of Toronto, where she was a celebrated filmmaker.  Her mental instability slowly increases in intensity, showing itself first beginning with a fear of driving, snowballing into a fear of being driven in a cab, on public transportation and then into full blown agoraphobia.  She never leaves the house, and doesn't allow her son Will to either.  Everything they need to survive can be delivered, with Will expertly signing his mother's name to the wide number of checks for the delivery men.  Diane is becoming increasingly dependent upon her "Relaxation Sessions", unable to leave even her room on many days, leaving Will to figure out life from an 11-year-old perspective.

One day, Will ventured outside for a full 9 minutes and in his experience now smelled Outside, tasted it, felt it and longs for more.  On his first venture Outside, Will meets a boy that scoffs as his thinking the Outside is the only place filled with danger.  Intrigued by this boy, Will begins to venture out more and more each day and is determined to find this boy again.  Unable to find him, he instead meets Jonah.  Marcus, the first boy Will encountered has gone missing and together Will and Jonah establish a close-knit friendship and one that includes trying to uncover what happened to their missing friend.

If I Fall, If I Die alternates between Diane and Will's perspectives, and it becomes a story that you'll become a part it.  The superb writing tells a tragic story.  But it's engrossing.  Precisely because the story is so compelling.

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I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.