THE PROGRAM BY SUZANNE YOUNG

Genre: YA, Sci-fi, Dystopian

“But who are we without our pasts? “
– Suzanne Young, The Program 

Series: The Program

Synopsis:
Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.

Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in. And The Program is coming for them.[Goodread]

In a world plagued by a suicide epidemic in teens, Sloane the main character and her friends must deal with the complications and struggles of dealing with the “virus”, going undetected by avoiding the Program and keeping their memories. The Program is set up by the government to cure those teens with the epidemic by taking away close to all their traumatic, “infected” memories. Suzanne Young created an idea and a world in which really made me think. What would you do and give to keep your memories whether they are good or bad, love, lost or even just the essence of the person who you are.  At times this book lacks that drive that moves a book forward, it is frustrating, but yet emotional and at times deep and thought provoking. James was  strong, witty and everything you could want in a man. James and Sloane share this great and crazy mad in love that leads them to promise to always protect each other from the illness. I had my issues with Sloane and felt she was at times weak and so dependent on those around her. The characters for sure make you feel the struggle they are facing. This ended up being something completely unexpected with its share of shocks and twists.

This had a few problems for me and I really couldn’t figure out how I really felt about it. Sloane made me mad and she was so dependent on the boys in her life. It made her character annoying to me. I also felt that the middle of this book although containing some pertinent information, lacked drive and was filled with fluff. I almost didn’t complete the book because of that. I felt like this would be more of a dystopian novel and was consumed by a love story. Although I slightly enjoyed the “meant to be” love and them finding each other again, against all odds and such, but it totally got in the way of the awesome concept of a suicide epidemic.