‘Definitions of Indefinable Things’ is a beautiful story following characters with mental illnesses and their messy relationships and surprising bonds. Whitney Taylor (the author) manages to combine compelling characters, hard circumstances and awkward conversations to make the heart wrenching story of Reggie Mason and what happens when she meets Snake.
I give this book 5 stars (out of five). I absolutely loved this book, it’s amazing and honestly I think it’s almost poetry told in the form of a novel. It’s such a beautiful story mixed in with the mess of depression and teenage love, it’s art. I could tell just from reading the first sentence that this book was not only something I wanted to read but something I would love reading. Even the title and cover art are beautiful, poetic and give the reader a good idea of what the book is about, I also really like that the title is relevant to the story. The plot is amazing, the main character Reggie Mason is a seventeen year old girl, who is battling depression, a religious mom who doesn’t understand and basically the world. She believes that if she never lets anyone in then nobody can hurt her and she hates everything because not hating is opening up the opportunity for hope and other potentially dangerous emotions.
She maintains this mentality, until she meets a similar charming boy at the Pharmacy while they’re both refilling their prescriptions. His name is Snake and his Twizzler obsession and dark humor almost soften Reggie’s resolve, although it takes more than just a chance meeting. And they build up an almost relationship (go on a few anti-dates), until Reggie finds out that Snake is the mystery father of the unborn child of Carla Banks. The most popular and rich girl in school, who used to be Reggie’s friend when they were younger and was suddenly abandoned by her friends when she became obviously pregnant.
This doesn’t really sit well with Reggie, considering the way she found out (overhearing them talking). And of course this is kind of a problem, since although Snake would love to be with Reggie he can’t exactly dump Carla. And the longer Snake likes Reggie and is still with Carla, Reggie can’t relax or really be happy with him or at all and his relationship with Carla becomes extremely strained. But through more and more random events and circumstances, Carla and Reggie become friends, bonding over their mutual struggles with and thoughts about Snake.
Overtime Reggie and Snake although they have their ups and downs make their way back to each other. And throughout the rest of the next couple hundred tear jerking pages, a thousand more sad, beautiful and wonderful things happen to our characters and their families. But it’s all somewhat worth it in the end. Speaking of which the ending is the best part of the book and honestly a perfect ending for the characters, realistically. I love this book and I hope you take the time to read it and take in the romance and philosophy of Reggie Mason, one of my favourite characters.