Remind Me to Hate You Later

A thoughtful meditation on social media and its effects on mental health, this moving novel by Mason (Between the Bliss and Me) follows the aftermath of a teenager’s death by suicide. Though her mother regularly documents 16-year-old Jules’s life to the five million subscribers of her parenting blog, Jules believes that her mom hates her: “She’s hated me since the day I was born with a hole in my heart. I was imperfect from the very beginning.” Though Jules is optimistic about a future with her caring boyfriend Carter and dreams of attending Le Cordon Bleu to become a chef, her self-harm, which she uses to cope, worsens. When Jules dies by suicide, the first-person perspective shifts to her best friend, Nat, who struggles to cope with Jules’s death and becomes singularly focused on showing Jules’s mother how her social media obsession affected her daughter’s self-worth. Through varying voices—Nat’s narrative reads as distant compared to Jules’s inherent expressiveness—Mason presents an intricate look at the grieving process’s myriad forms in this harrowing novel, which addresses themes of blame, regret, resentment, and shame, and how these difficult feelings can affect families and friendships. Mental health resources conclude. Ages 14–up. (Feb.)

The text of this review has been updated for clarity.