Today Karis from YA Litwit has allowed me to share her post from this month. It has been taken directly from her blog and reposted as is. Amy and I appreciate her support and are more than happy to share with you, her commentary and review.
Commentary and Review: Skinny by Donna Cooner
Publisher:
Point
Publication Date: October
1st, 2012
Find
your voice.
Hopeless. Freak. Elephant. Pitiful. These are the words of Skinny, the vicious voice that lives inside fifteen-year-old Ever Davies’s head. Skinny tells Ever all the dark thoughts her classmates have about her. Ever knows she weighs over three hundred pounds, knows she’ll probably never be loved, and Skinny makes sure she never forgets it.
But there is another voice: Ever’s singing voice, which is beautiful but has been silenced by Skinny. Partly in the hopes of trying out for the school musical—and partly to try and save her own life—Ever decides to undergo a risky surgery that may help her lose weight and start over.
With the support of her best friend, Ever begins the uphill battle toward change. But demons, she finds, are not so easy to shake, not even as she sheds pounds. Because Skinny is still around. And Ever will have to confront that voice before she can truly find her own.
Hopeless. Freak. Elephant. Pitiful. These are the words of Skinny, the vicious voice that lives inside fifteen-year-old Ever Davies’s head. Skinny tells Ever all the dark thoughts her classmates have about her. Ever knows she weighs over three hundred pounds, knows she’ll probably never be loved, and Skinny makes sure she never forgets it.
But there is another voice: Ever’s singing voice, which is beautiful but has been silenced by Skinny. Partly in the hopes of trying out for the school musical—and partly to try and save her own life—Ever decides to undergo a risky surgery that may help her lose weight and start over.
With the support of her best friend, Ever begins the uphill battle toward change. But demons, she finds, are not so easy to shake, not even as she sheds pounds. Because Skinny is still around. And Ever will have to confront that voice before she can truly find her own.
(Courtesy
of Goodreads)
Review:
Skinny
was a difficult book to read, but a powerful one nonetheless. Usually YA books
concerning weight and food issues deal with anorexia and/or bulimia;
Skinny deals with the opposite- Ever is 15 years old, 5'6" tall, and is
over 300 pounds. Ever deals with anything and everything negative that happens
in her life by eating. She knows she shouldn't have that fourth muffin or that
second Snickers, but she can't help it. Add to that the vicious little voice in
her head who goes by the name Skinny. Every time something happens that Ever
doesn't like, Skinny pipes up to mess with Ever's head. When Ever has something
horrible happen to her in public, as a result of her weight, she makes the
decision to undergo Gastric Bypass surgery. This book follows Ever on her
journey to, through, and post surgery. It celebrates her triumphs, but also
makes the reader aware that this was no risk-free, easy fix, which was really
important, in my mind. There were a couple of issues that plagued me though...
The first is a biggie- Ever isn't very likable. She is actually pretty mean
and self-absorbed. She has a negative view of herself and has put up walls
because of it, and much of the time, those walls were made of pure vitriol.
That said, Ever did come around some, but I never really felt like I liked her
much. Sure, I was rooting for her, but I still didn't like her much. Second, I
felt like the whole thing had a little bit of a fairy-tale element that I think
detracted from what the story COULD have been. The romantic element was a bit
cheesy and I felt like Ever had a little bit too easy of a time adjusting
socially after the surgery- high school is NOT like that... Aside from those
issues though, I think Donna Cooner did a great job with the feelings. I've
never been overweight, so I can't be sure, but in the end notes it says that she
had similar success with Gastric Bypass. I'm sure that is one of the reasons
for her intimate knowledge of Ever's mindset, and I think that's awesome because
this book needed to be written. The best part for me was when Ever confronts
Skinny in the end because I never expected what came with it. Really
powerful!
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Grade Level Recommendation: This is primarily a book for girls, and it is a book all tween and teen girls should read. It's pretty clean, and although there are some intense emotional moments, the content is fine for 5th grade and up (ages 10+).
Commentary:
What really
struck me, what I found most thought-provoking about Skinny, was that even
though Ever was teased some by the kids at school, most of the bullying Ever
endured came from within. Ever's biggest bully was herself and her internal
dialogue with Skinny. October is National Bullying Prevention Awareness
Month and I was going to re-post a review of a book on the subject, that I
have so much love for, called Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories
(read that review HERE), but as I read Skinny, it started to dawn on me
that for some of us, WE are our own biggest bully. I was never really bullied
in school, but I sure beat myself up when I didn't measure up to my own
impossible standards, and I think there are A LOT of people out there like me;
especially girls and women. Destructive self-talk is so damaging to the soul,
but it is never addressed as "bullying", even though is often has the same end
result- depression, suicide, emotional scarring... Some of the most "perfect"
people I know have some of the lowest self-esteem and are some of the most
emotionally damaged, but it all comes from within. I guess what I'm saying is
that in honor of National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month, to make
sure that you are not only working to prevent people from bullying other people,
but also thinking about how you treat yourself and how those around you do the
same. Sometimes a kind word is all that is needed to battle that bully inside
someone's head...