The First Time she Drowned by Kerry Kletter deals with a narcissistic mother and her daughter. Cassie O’Malley was placed in a psychiatric hospital at the age of 15, by her mother, and is terrified to leave and face the real world. She has been in the hospital secluded from her friends and family, and doesn’t know what the outside world will treat her like when she attends college. Faced with reality, Cassie’s mind lives in her childhood memories of her abusive upbringing. She is faced with the question should she retreat to her mother or trust in herself to change her life when she turns 18 and can become her own person.
She constantly lives in the past of her relationship with her mother who left her at the age of 15. Cassie needed to learn to love herself before she could move forward, but her past was interfering. Mother daughter relationships are crucial in any child’s life, and her absence was emotionally breaking Cassie, because not only was her childhood torturous but it will forever be in her mind of what she went through.
The title is literal, because cassie has spent her whole life trying to keep her head above water with her non existent family members, and the constant struggle of her childhood. As she tries to move on more is uncovered about her childhood, and she is faced with more questions on which story is true and whose life she should save.
The story serves as an inspiration and the reader sees how Cassie is forced to face adulthood so early in her life. Her guidance counselor at the college she attended, helped her breakthrough by listening to Cassie’s story and being so compassionate and not judgemental. Cassies ability to face adversity is the inspiration the reader gets which also could lead to the theme that facing adversity, makes you come back stronger.
The author Kerry Kletter tells the story of her childhood through her book. It’s almost like an autobiography of her life, because she tells her childhood story through Cassie as the main character.
I personally loved this book because it showed the characters strength to get through her psychological mindset of her past. Her past doomed her and seemed to be impossible to overcome, and she pushed through, faced adversity and came out with her head above the water, not drowning. Her past made her stronger for her future, and for most young kids that could’ve been a downward spiral, and it could of lead to a treacherous life but she used it as a learning experience.