Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses

November 1, 2020
In O'Neal's debut, a girl with Lyme disease attempts to cure her best friend--who's a werewolf. Nineteen-year-old narrator Priya Radhakrishnan feels like Lyme disease has stolen her life. Instead of studying pre-med at Stanford, she's back home in New Jersey with her loving and protective parents, struggling with debilitating fatigue, mental fog, and joint pain. Fortunately, she and her online friend Brigid--who's reluctant to share details about her own illness--find comfort and camaraderie in a virtual chronic-illness support group, whose members navigate diagnoses ranging from endometriosis to fibromyalgia. Though the members' personalities are nearly indistinguishable, their wisecracking chats and texts sympathetically acknowledge the physical and mental tolls of dealing with both chronic illness and others' misconceptions. When Brigid ominously goes offline, Priya tracks her down and discovers her diagnosis: She's a werewolf, and she's getting worse. Can Priya help Brigid find a cure before she becomes a wolf permanently? More medical than paranormal, Brigid's lycanthropy sensitively explores such issues as treatment risks, independence, and identity. A somewhat anticlimactic ending is mitigated by the love and support suffusing Priya's and Brigid's interactions with the group and each other, reassuring readers living with health conditions that they're not alone. Most characters default to White. Priya is the daughter of South Indian immigrants; there is diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity among the cast. A heartwarming, quirky take on chronic illness in all its hairy detail. (Fiction. 13-18)

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December 1, 2020

Gr 7 Up-A college student with Lyme disease and a werewolf become friends through an online support group. Priya was on the pre-med fast-track when she contracted Lyme disease. Now she spends all day laying in bed and scrolling Tumblr while her Indian American family hovers. Her one bright spot is her online friend Brigid and the chronic illness support group that they joined together. When Priya meets Brigid, who is of Irish descent, in real life, she discovers that her friend's "illness" is lycanthropy. This book perfectly captures what it feels like to be chronically ill: How good days and flare-ups feel like they'll last forever, how needing familial help extends your childhood, and even the deep depression you feel when you realize that things may never get better. O'Neal adeptly mixes the magical with the realistic. Priya and Brigid's support group spans a variety of races, sexualities, and gender identities without feeling as if the author is checking off boxes. Although the novel could be enjoyed without knowledge of Tumblr, in a few years the references to in-jokes will be either unintelligible or extremely dated. This is appropriate for middle schoolers, even though the age of the protagonist may resonate more with older teens. VERDICT A must-read for anyone with a chronic illness or who loves someone with a chronic illness. A good choice for YA collections.-Jeri Murphy, C.F. Simmons M.S., Aurora, IL

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2021
Grades 9-12 Priya's freshman year at Stanford is derailed when she contracts Lyme disease and returns to her family home in New Jersey to recuperate. She is in constant pain and has no energy, and her dreams of becoming a doctor begin to drain away, but her online friendship with Brigid leads her to a support group for people with chronic illness. The members' conditions range from Priya's Lyme disease to fibromyalgia to debilitating migraines to, in the case of Brigid, lycanthropy. Priya learns about it when she visits Brigid, who has been out of touch, and discovers a large wolf instead. Priya enlists Spencer, an animal control worker, and the group to help Brigid, and through the effort, she starts to explore and expand her own capabilities. Priya's first-person narrative nicely cultivates tension, and transcripts of chats and text messages give it a contemporary feel. Her parents, brother, and sister are well drawn, as is Brigid, and the group members form a close and supportive bond. Depicting lycanthropy as a chronic illness is a fresh and original twist on the werewolf legend.

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