A review by madmooney
Skim by Mariko Tamaki

4.0

*Warning - the events of this book surround the repercussions of a suicide, but it is not the focus of the book*

Skim is a book that captures the essence of being a teenage girl in a snow globe, frozen in time, and then shakes the globe to show you different angles of it. You do not get too deep a dive into everything going on - you will leave some things up to conjecture - but you at least know that the sculpture in the globe is very genuine .

One of these genuine moments for me was hearing the phrase "loved on" - this is a phrase and a sentiment I remember from when I was a teenager. I do not know of my cohort of Torontonians owned that phrase, or if the language of teenagers is both mercurial and immortal simultaneously, but I was immediately transported!

Another aspect captured beautifully in this book is the idea that teenagehood is also when you start to subconsiously find a better fit for the people that you consider to be friends.

While not biographic, it is very clearly biographical - Kimberly could easily be a stand-in for the author. I do wonder if there are any follow ups - as the ending is abrupt.