pale_faced_fear's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
toritellini's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
auraylee's review
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Eating disorder
Moderate: Death of parent
finny's review
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder and Mental illness
poemsandponds's review
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book was sad and melancholy. It hurt to see Val’s relationship with her mother and how her mom put fuel on a fire of Val’s unhealthy relationship with food. Had some good takeaways about friendship, creating space from toxic family relationships, and healing. There was a certain level of emotional distance and also part that felt sanitized and just there for the story’s plot that made the book fall short a bit in the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Vomit
bittertea's review against another edition
1.0
I hated...basically everything about this book except for the art.
Most of the book focuses on her actual eating disorder, but it feels so santized, so stripped of the actual physical health consquences of such an eating disorder, it sends a bit of a terrible message. The main character throws up essentially *every meal* and isn't even so much lightheaded from the process. Even by the end, when she admits she does this, it's still a distant, far away, "I'm sick." I wasn't expecting gruesome, but without meaning too, it definitely would tell an impressionable teenager that throwing up after every meal is a mostly a consequence-free way to stay thin.
The characters never have to grow or change, none of them. Nothing really...happens in this book. Valerie spends her time intoning that she "must be good" but her defiance of her mother happens off page--she stands up once to her, but not in a way that sets any boundaries or changes the relationship at all--and then we're just told, at the end, she went to the college she feared she shouldn't go to. Her eating disorder recovery also happens off page--she just goes to a support group, and she's good. We see none of that progress.
Likewise, she forgives her mother's cruelty, simply decides its her mother's way of "loving her" so that we don't actually get to see our main character actually process her mother's treatment of her, or deal with it in any way. When Valerie yells at her best friend, Jordan, that she can't imagine why the boy she has a crush on chose Jordan because she's fat, Valerie is never actually required to unpack that. Her friend even asks, "Is that all you think of me?" (or something to that effect) and Valerie never things about *why* she said those words to her friend.
There was a lot of potential to this book, but it's actual execution left me hating every moment of it.
Most of the book focuses on her actual eating disorder, but it feels so santized, so stripped of the actual physical health consquences of such an eating disorder, it sends a bit of a terrible message. The main character throws up essentially *every meal* and isn't even so much lightheaded from the process. Even by the end, when she admits she does this, it's still a distant, far away, "I'm sick." I wasn't expecting gruesome, but without meaning too, it definitely would tell an impressionable teenager that throwing up after every meal is a mostly a consequence-free way to stay thin.
The characters never have to grow or change, none of them. Nothing really...happens in this book. Valerie spends her time intoning that she "must be good" but her defiance of her mother happens off page--she stands up once to her, but not in a way that sets any boundaries or changes the relationship at all--and then we're just told, at the end, she went to the college she feared she shouldn't go to. Her eating disorder recovery also happens off page--she just goes to a support group, and she's good. We see none of that progress.
Likewise, she forgives her mother's cruelty, simply decides its her mother's way of "loving her" so that we don't actually get to see our main character actually process her mother's treatment of her, or deal with it in any way. When Valerie yells at her best friend, Jordan, that she can't imagine why the boy she has a crush on chose Jordan because she's fat, Valerie is never actually required to unpack that. Her friend even asks, "Is that all you think of me?" (or something to that effect) and Valerie never things about *why* she said those words to her friend.
There was a lot of potential to this book, but it's actual execution left me hating every moment of it.
mycatcricket17's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
emeryyy's review against another edition
5.0
Val has struggled with her idea of beauty and her mom's expectations regarding her weight for years. But a family tragedy leads to her re-examining her life, looking for help, and searching for happiness.
honestly i don't have much to say about this other than it's definitely worth a read! it's raw and heartbreaking but hopeful and beautiful (not to mention that the artwork is amazing) and there's so much i loved about it. i did think the tragedy was brushed aside almost immediately after but that might be because of how short the story is
honestly i don't have much to say about this other than it's definitely worth a read! it's raw and heartbreaking but hopeful and beautiful (not to mention that the artwork is amazing) and there's so much i loved about it. i did think the tragedy was brushed aside almost immediately after but that might be because of how short the story is