Grieving over losing a partner, an infant, a fellow companion all push you to become a stronger human being. Alice Kuipers novel, The Worst Thing She Ever Did, focuses on a diary written by 16-year-old Sophie Baxter who lives in London, England that is learning to deal with the death of her older sister, Emily who died during a terrorist attack. Throughout Sophie’s diary, loneliness was a common theme throughout each entry as she dealt with it in an unusual way but Emily’s death allowed her to break out of her comfort zone at school as well as with new people as she realizes who her real friends are. However, Sophie’s mother isolates herself from the real world ultimately hurting her loved ones without realizing it. Although young adults face …show more content…
Each person grieves and deals with death and the feeling of loneliness differently, as for Sophie she constantly replays moments in her mind as a way of escaping from the real world. For example, a diary entry said, “God, I wish I could go back to the night I was sitting with Emily on the roof. I wish I could hold time still at that moment and never more forward” (Kuipers 173). Sophie and Emily were not only sisters but they were best friends who made carefree and enjoyable moments together that lead them to be inseparable from each other. Furthermore, as the story develops Sophie’s diary reveals that her mom and Emily meant everything to her as Sophie did not have a father figure growing up. As Sophie is feeling lonely she tries to imagine how her life would be if her dad and sister did not die. Sophie said, “My dad died when I was little. He had cancer, but I was too small to really know him. I was only two. It was just me and Mum. And Emily” (Kuipers 65)... As she tried covering up her loneliness by having flashbacks, it revealed that a lot has changed in her life since she was little and had no one to lean on. Sophie Baxter is an ordinary teenager who deals with loneliness by having flashbacks to happier times as a way of tackling the death of her