After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away is a young adult novel written by Joyce Carol Oates.Joyce Carol Oates – After the Wreck First published in 2006, it is her fifth novel for teenagers.

Plot summary After Jenna Abbott nearly dies in the car wreck on the bridge that took her mother's life, she finds herself longing for the peace of the "blue"—the drug-filled haze she experienced in hospital—and steals drugs from her uncle's medicine cabinet. This sets her down a self-destructive path, and towards her classmate, the mysterious biker Crow, who is the one person she can confide in.

Reception Critical reception for the book has been positive, with the School Library Journal praising the book's print and audio forms, calling it "powerful." School Library JournalAudio Review: After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away (unabr.) School Library Journal Commonsensemedia wrote that After the Wreck was a "raw look at loss and addiction best for older teens."After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away Commonsense Media Kirkus Reviews wrote that the book's ending was "wrapped up a bit too simply considering all of Jenna's issues" but that "Oates's variation on a stream-of-consciousness style is appropriate for the voice of a character who spends so much time in her own head."AFTER THE WRECK, I PICKED MYSELF UP, SPREAD MY WINGS, AND FLEW AWAY By Joyce Carol Oates Kirkus Reviews Booklist stated "There is too much going on, with everything spelled out, including the metaphor of her need to cross over the treacherous bridge. But Oates gets the contemporary teen voice just right, and Jenna's first-person narrative moves at breakneck speed."After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away Booklist Publishers Weekly called the book "intense," saying it had an "inspiring conclusion."Children's Review: After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away Publishers Weekly

References

External links Celestial Timepiece: The Joyce Carol Oates Home Page – Joyce Carol Oates's official web site