Review: Omitted

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

From Goodreads:

Secrets. Scars. Solitude.
Those three words now define her life.
And the big one, Silence.
But this is not a vocabulary lesson. This is a story about a girl; a girl who chose to keep silent.
Did she make the right choice?

SHE IS DROWNING IN SILENCE.
When Hannah wakes up in the hospital, she makes a decision to feign memory loss about the events that landed her there. Now a college freshman, she’s determined to put the past behind her, but she’s coming to realize that silence may be her biggest enemy.

WILL SHE LET HIM LOVE HER?
Within minutes of meeting Hannah, Parker quickly discovers that trying to befriend this prickly girl will be like hugging a cactus; it can only end in pain.
But Parker loves a challenge, and he makes it his mission to put a smile on that girl’s face. The more he knows about Hannah, the more he wants to find out. If only she would let him get close to her…

Hannah is done letting anybody in, but being surrounded by so many cheerful people—especially Parker—is tempting her to open up again. Maybe even fall in love.
Will she put an end to the lies?
Or will she keep pretending?

Sometimes lying about it feels easier. Maybe a colouring a little here and there so it doesn't look so bad. But omitting the truth entirely, that's when you know something is truly wrong with the situation.

Hannah doesn't want to talk about the car crash. Paraded form therapist to therapist, an absent mother, and a cousin who is the most important person in the world for her, Hannah keeps the truth to herself. She claims not to remember a thing about the entire event, not even a flash, the truth: She remembers every single second down to the horrifying detail. 

The secrets are revealed one by one. And at the beginning of the book, I couldn't understand why someone would choose to stay quiet about a car crash. Then the snippets of the truth begin raining, and you see the crash in a new light. And it's more gruesome than you originally thought.

Omitted is just a tad over two hundred pages, meaning it's not a thick novel where you can cram more inside. And maybe for that reason, not much character development happened with anyone else than Hannah. Although the book is told in multiple points of views, many of the side characters felt a little bit flat in the end.

The book conveys an important message to us all. Not just for those who have been or currently are in a similar situation, but to those who are seeing someone go through and/or trying to help them. It's not always easy to speak up. But when you do, it might give the courage to someone else to speak up too, helping many more than just yourself.

This was one of those any day quick reads that anyone would enjoy. The writing is mostly flowing and the plot stays interesting until the end.