Book Review: The Program by Suzanne Young

Image (c) Simon Pulse

The Program (The Program #1) by Suzanne Young
Release Date: April 30th, 2013
Book Format: Library book
Rating: Three stars

In Sloane’s world, true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.

Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.

Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in. And The Program is coming for them.

I've heard many good things about this book, so when I found a copy I was excited enough to grab it off the shelves even though I wasn't really planning on getting the book right then and there. I would figure that everyone wouldn't really be entirely wrong about a book if it seemed like a lot of people liked it, right?

I'm not trying to make it sound like it was bad. It was okay, but it wasn't that good? I guess I just held up too high of expectations about this book, which is never really a good thing- at least for me, since most of the time I usually find myself severely disappointed. This is one of those instances.

Depression is something that a lot of Americans have these days. Well, The Program takes it on a whole new level. Society wants to limit suicide due to depression, which is good. Except, in this society, there's no psychological help or no way you can just talk to someone to help get through troubled times. No. If anyone shows any ounce of sadness, even a little, they get tossed into the program and gets their minds erased.

Wait, I'm sorry, what?

This is the world Sloane lives in now. She has good reasons to feel how she's feeling now- one of the major causes is that she lost her brother to suicide. He drowned himself and it's something she held on her shoulders for quite some time. It's an incredibly traumatic moment for her and I honestly don't blame her for being emotional about it. But, thanks to how things work in her world, she's not allowed to show any emotion towards said event. Not unless if she wants to be sent off into the Program.
I just have a hard time believing that, at the least, no one would ever think that talking about their troubles wouldn't help them. The thought of also withholding a lot of my strong emotions so I wouldn't risk losing my memories... it just seems sort of irrational to me. Maybe perhaps that's one of the biggest reasons why I couldn't get into this book. Especially since, I'm certain, erasing memories wouldn't make anything better.

On top of that, if they decided to erase her memories of a certain person, I don't think I'd let the person return back to the school where said person still attends school there. That seems like a big flaw as well.

I'm probably over-analyzing everything, but this review is mostly about my opinion, so.

I love the character development and how, despite Sloane losing her memories, her first flame still rings in her mind. The inner romantic loved that. The actual premises, on the other hand... not as much. I have a hard time truly believing the authorities ramming down on anyone who show even a little bit of sadness in public and marking it as depression. Maybe the society is that paranoid, I don't know, but that doesn't mean I'm 'eh' about it.

This is probably a good book for those who doesn't actually live with depression... maybe. Probably. It just wasn't for me.

Originally posted and shared January 30th, 2014