Review of The Other Side of Nothing
B. Lorenzo Buckinchere
May 31, 2026
It’s the end of the month, and time once again for our monthly review series. Our muse for the month of May is The Other Side of Nothing. But before we begin, here’s a disclaimer.
Disclaimer:
The following review contains spoilers, and is subject to interpretations that may not express the perspectives or intentions of the author. Please read the book in its entirety before reading this, or any other reviews on the topic.
Trigger Warning:
Please be forewarned, the following review discusses themes of illness, death, and self-harm. Reader’s discretion is advised.
Now without further ado, let’s begin.
Overview:
The Other Side of Nothing is a 2024 American novel, written by Anastasia Zadeik, and published by “She Writes Press.” The Other Side of Nothing is Zadeik’s second novel after Blurred Fates, and is centered around a young woman (Julia) who runs away with Sam, her young lover whom she met at a mental hospital while also coming to terms with her father’s untimely death.
Plot:
In 2016, Julia Reeves checked herself into New York’s Brookfield Sanitarium the day after her 18th birthday. She had previously related suicidal urges to a psychiatrist named Dr. Stein, following the death of her father, Paul.
During her stay at Brookfield, Julia becomes acquainted with some of her new neighbors while also being counselled by a therapist named Tanya. Julia has taken quite a liking towards Tanya, and thinks Tanya’s marshmallow voice is absolutely adorable.
Being half-Black, Julia is often judged harshly by her mother’s side of the family. Her grandmother, Frances, in particular, seems to think that Julia is just going through a teenage phase for the sake of attention. Julia’s cousins appear spoiled and overprivileged on the surface. But their mother, Lillly, is more supportive of Julia and her mother, Laura.
Laura visits her daughter at Brookfield as often as she can. Their relationship had become strained ever since Paul died. But Laura tries to be supportive of Julia’s life choices, such as her decision to grow dreadlocks, and befriend a girl named Cheyenne, who encourages her behavior.
Then there’s something else about Julia that’s very noteworthy. She has an overactive imagination, and she likes to draw. With that said, it’s not long before Julia meets a young photographer named Sam. Sam sketches a portrait of Julia’s face, and they quickly become smitten with each other.
One day during visiting hours, Julia and Laura encounter a woman who had come to visit Sam. The woman calls him Max, and a confused Julia suddenly becomes jealous and runs away.
Sam later explains to Julia that the woman who visited him was actually his mother, Arabella, and that his full name is actually Maximilian Samuel Lorenzo, the third, but he likes being called by his middle name.
He further tells Julia that his father, Max, wants to keep Sam from his grandfather’s inheritance, and that placing him at Brookfield was all part of a ruse to weaken Sam’s efforts against Max. Then they plot to run away together.
By the time Laura and Arabella discover that their children are missing from the sanitarium, Sam had already managed to jack his old man’s ride from the parking garage using their name, and take Julia out of the city.
Arabella’s first instinct was to call her wealthy ex-husband, but he was away in Paris with his new girlfriend, and was being rather neglectful towards Sam and Arabella.
As such, the two mothers form an unlikely alliance, and travel across the United States in an attempt to track down their mentally unstable children before they manage to get into any trouble.
Throughout their journey, they share details of their children’s characters as well as their interests that may offer a clue as to where they’re planning to go. Arabella is rather apprehensive about telling Laura of Sam’s previous girlfriends. Apparently, this is not his first rodeo.
Arabella revises Julia’s bucket list, and she notices some rather interesting items, such as aspirations to go to college, as well as foods she hadn’t tried, etc. During this time, Julia leaves a paper trail by borrowing the cell phones of hotel guests to call her mother, but she doesn't say much.
They decide to stop in Chicago first. They visit the ferris wheel because her father once took her there, but Julia had acrophobia, meaning she is afraid of heights. Laura and Arabella’s instincts were correct, because that’s exactly where Sam took Julia. Only, her acrophobia never really went away.
Disappointed, Sam and Julia continue their journey by car while Arabella and Laura track them by air, hoping to get there first. Their next guess was that Sam probably took Julia to the Georgia O’Keefe museum in Santa Fe.
Only this time, their instincts were dead wrong. Not because Sam didn’t plan to take Julia there, but because Sam’s ultimate destination was Half Dome in Yosemite Park, and he was running on a tight schedule.
You see, Julia had told Sam about a once-in-a-lifetime Beaver moon that was coming up in a few days. And being a photographer, Sam wanted to take a picture of the Beaver moon from Half Dome, to replicate the 1927 photograph that was originally taken by his muse, Ansel Adams.
Obsessed with his pursuit of the perfect photo, Sam drove for days without eating or properly sleeping. Julia started to worry, and asked Sam why he never took any of the psych meds that were prescribed for him at Brookfield.
This was a difficult question for Sam, but he eventually answered by saying that they would dull the intensity of his life experience, and that he’d rather live out louder no matter how painful, or intense his experience might become, a reference to Camus whom they had been reading the entire ride. Sam really loved The Myth of Sisyphus.
By the time they finally make it to Yosemite National Park, Sam is sleep deprived and disoriented. Agitated, he easily loses his patience with Julia, and goes on ahead of her, memorizing the trail towards the Half Dome rock.
Separated from Sam, Julia borrows the cell phone of hikers at the park and calls her mother, telling her where they are. But by the time they are finally reunited, Maximilian Samuel Lorenzo had already fallen over to the other side of nothing.
Review:
This novel challenges the reader to contemplate the curse of creativity, and to weigh the odds of living intensely and authentically, versus seeking treatment for depression.
It turns out that Julia was not the only one battling suicidal urges, but also Sam. Which would explain why they resonated so well with each other in the first place.
The Other Side of Nothing is a sobering read that may cause the reader to reflect on the cost of pursuit, and whether the price is worth paying. I give this one a four out of five beaver moon monoliths, and I’ll see you on the next one.
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