A girl with no friends is how Elise Dembowski sees herself. Her girl pals drift away from her. Her clothes aren't cool, she doesn't hang out in the right places, nobody chats with her. She makes a big effort to start a new school year, with new teenage fashions, and all that happens is a kid on the bus steals her I-Pod. She sits with other girls for lunch, and they tell her to put their trash in the bin.

THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE shows that Elise decides her life is so empty that she will kill herself. It's the fault of the girls at school, she thinks, so she should write a note to blame them. She tries cutting herself just to see how it feels, but then can't stop the blood; and she realises that she didn't want to die, she just wanted attention. Well, now she's got it. Months later Elise has turned sixteen and people still tread carefully around her. She meets some older girls, Vicky and Pippa, one night and lies her way in to an underground dance party. She's only interested in the music. A DJ called Char gets to know her and they discuss their favourite songs and artists, and then she buys turntables and a mix desk to practise. Finally there is something she can do, something that might make her popular - though she's deceiving her parents.

This young adult read starts out with a whiny, nobody-likes- me atmosphere, but once the music and older crowd come along the tale takes off fast. I learned a lot about the skills involved in cueing up songs and matching beats to synchronise the start of one song with the end of the previous one. Meanwhile back at high school the sadly all too familiar story of online bullying occurs - I'm just glad I left school before that started. While Elise is mature enough to know she shouldn't risk drinking alcohol, the older girls are drinking, and we see it's not always with good consequences.

Many young people have a tough time at school - often the brighter kids. Not all of them feel they need to be liked. Elise did feel that way, and that made her all the easier to deride and bully. The best advice I can give such young people is to find an interest outside school and meet friends that way. Exactly like Leila Sales is showing us in her book, in fact, with the edginess of the adult dance club for extra excitement. Lots of young adults will identify with THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE. And it's a very good read.

Book Summary

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