YMMV / Falling Apart

• Crosses the Line Twice: At the end of the book Jan makes a very dark joke about her baby niece Carly committing suicide.
• Values Dissonance:
  • A modern reader is likely to be as shocked as Simon is to hear that Tina's oldest sister Louise is married with a baby at 18. The average age of first marriage in the UK has risen since the 1980s and it would be very rare for an 18-year-old to get married nowadays.
  • It's also implied Geoff and Louise only got married because she was pregnant. These days, it's far more socially acceptable to have children outside marriage in the UK.
  • Boarding schools like the one Simon attends have also declined in popularity, due to high costs and child welfare concerns.
  • The attitudes of the hospital staff and Tina's family towards mental illness are very of their time. It's now more widely accepted that suicidal ideation needs to be taken seriously.
• Tear Jerker: The scene in which Tina overdoses and is taken to hospital.
• The Woobie: Poor, poor Tina. She's The Un-Favourite to her mother, blames herself for her twin brother's death and doesn't do well at school. Of course she's going to take it too far the moment someone shows her some affection.

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