A Playlist for Blood Wounds by Danielle

by Danielle


I chose the song “When She Cries” by Britt Nicole for more than just a few scenes. It doesn’t describe one scene. It describes so much of the information shared throughout the book. The song is about a little girl raised in a bad home, who as a teenager lives in a better place but deals with her past through self harm. The same life-story as the main character up to a certain point.





In part two of the book, the main character, Willa, decides to go back to her home town to attend her sisters’ funeral. In this, she is sort of starting over and figuring herself out and her past while she’s there, and at the same time having to deal with her father’s death and the crime he committed just before it. For that I chose the song “Shake it Out” by Florence and the Machine, a song about regretting your mistakes and restarting.





Also in part two, Willa meets her brother, who she hadn’t seen since she was very little. When they meet, they share a certain sadness with each other, much like that of the feelings described in the song “Sympathy” by the Goo Goo Dolls. And also that they share feelings of doubt and homelessness, which in this case is because of the loss of their family.





About halfway through the book, Willa attends her sisters’ and their mother’s funeral where a teacher of one of the girls sings the song Itsy Bitsy Spider, a song which meant a lot to Willa when she was little. Hearing the song makes her cry harder than she’s ever cried before. And because of her tears, I chose the song “Save You” by Kelly Clarkson for the scene. The connection is a little bit hard to explain without the lyrics.





After the funeral, Willa goes to the cemetery with her brother where the girls and their mother were buried to visit them and sing to them. For this scene I chose the song “Keep Holding On” by Avril Lavigne because of their support for each other.





Throughout the entirety of the story, the relationship with the main character and her dad is described – how it was before, and how it is present day. I connected this to the song “Breakdown” by Seether which talks about a relationship where one person is really hurt by the other, and where there used to be a close relationship before but that ended up in them hating each other. This is a surprising a lot like the father-daughter relationship in the book.





Though not the entire song fits the story, the song “My Immortal” by Evanescence does relate to an extent. This song does not fit just one scene, it fits a thought process I guess you could say. Willa has to deal with her father’s crime and that fact that that is all the memory she can have of him. The song talks about being left, and having a memory of the person that is haunting, and just wanting to be left alone by it. Get the connection?





Lastly, I chose the song “Scarlet” by Brooke Fraser. Not because it fit any particular scene in the book but because it is about a major part of the story. Self harm.





Yes, some of these songs are stretched a bit, but it was the best I could do.