Review: The Cartographers, Amy Zhang

Happy Friday, friends! Today I’m reviewing The Cartographers, by Amy Zhang, an upper-YA contemporary book set in New York city, about mental health and more. Check it out!

The Cartographers by Amy Zhang
Published by HarperCollins on January 31, 2023
Genres: contemporary, young adult
Format: ARC
Source: Harper360UK
Buy on Amazon, Book Depository, Bookshop, Blackwell's
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Struggling to balance the expectations of her immigrant mother with her deep ambivalence about her own place in the world, seventeen-year-old Ocean Wu takes her savings and goes off the grid. A haunting and romantic novel about family, friendship, philosophy, and love.
Ocean Wu has always felt enormous pressure to succeed. After struggling with depression during her senior year in high school, Ocean moves to New York City, where she has been accepted at a prestigious university. But Ocean feels so emotionally raw and unmoored (and uncertain about what is real and what is not), that she decides to defer and live off her savings until she can get herself together. She also decides not to tell her mother (whom she loves very much but doesn’t want to disappoint) that she is deferring—at least until she absolutely must.
In New York, Ocean moves into an apartment with Georgie and Tashya, two strangers who soon become friends, and gets a job tutoring. She also meets a boy—Constantine Brave (a name that makes her laugh)—late one night on the subway. Constant is a fellow student and a graffiti artist, and Constant and Ocean soon start corresponding via Google Docs—they discuss physics, philosophy, art, literature, and love. But everything falls apart when Ocean goes home for Thanksgiving, Constant reveals his true character, Georgie and Tashya break up, and the police get involved.
Ocean, Constant, Georgie, and Tashya are all cartographers—mapping out their futures, their dreams, and their paths toward adulthood in this stunning and heartbreaking novel about finding the strength to control your own destiny.

I received this book for free from Harper360UK in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

☂️ TRIGGER WARNINGS:

depression, anxiety, self-harm, panic attacks, suicidal ideation, alcohol drinking, toxic relationship.

There are no spoilers in this review.

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I ENJOYED…

☂️

• The Cartographers reminded me of some of the YA books I used to read, a long, long time ago. I’m not quite sure how to explain it, but books in the John Green vibes, books that make you think and are written so beautifully packed with emotions that they stay with you for a while.
• One of the strongest suits of this book is how it explores mental health. It doesn’t shy away from talking about the topic in depth, the messy feelings when depression inhabits you, the suicidal thoughts and how they destroy your mind, the anxiety about life and everything else, as well. It’s a story about finding your place and yourself, while struggling with your own sense of self, of belonging, of existing, at all. It’s raw and emotional and important.
• I absolutely adored the friendships in this book, definitely one of the highlights of it all. The main character’s roommates, Georgie and Tashya, were fantastic additions to the story. With their own desires and quirks, with their support towards Ocean and ugh I just really really loved them and their interactions okay.

• Ocean was a great main character to follow. I can’t pretend I know what it’s like to be in her head or to feel the way she feels entirely, but I found it easy to care for her, to root for her and just wanted what was best for her. I felt for her all the way to the end of the story.

I HAD A HARD TIME WITH…

☂️

• The book felt really heavy, at times, which is totally not surprising, given its topics and trigger warnings. That being said, personally, that pulled me a little bit out of the story. It’s not a wrong thing, per se, just something that made me lower my rating. Obviously just a personal feeling!
• The conversations between Ocean and Constantine were sometimes a bit heavy to follow, as well. They discuss philosophy in depth and sometimes I had a hard time wrapping my head around it all.

OVERALL

☂️

The Cartographers is a very emotional book about living with depression, finding your place, figuring out what to do and who to be in a complex, messed up world. While it’s not an easy read, at times, it certainly is a haunting one that I recommend to anyone looking for an upper-YA book about mental health.

FINAL RATING : 3 stars!

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📚 Books similar to The Cartographers that I’d recommend:

• Check out: 10 YA Books with mental health representation

Did you read The Cartographers, or do you want to? Any book you’re looking forward to reading, next? Let me know in comments!

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