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A review by lawbooks600
The Greatest Thing by Sarah Winifred Searle
emotional
slow-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
3.0
Representation: Black characters
Score: Six points out of ten.
Man, I'm disappointed that CBCA shortlisted this book this year for Older Readers. They could've chosen anything else but this novel, and still they chose this. Come on. Really? There are so many flaws in this novel I don't even know where to begin, and it will probably be something I would never reread. It starts with the main character Winifred (whose last name I forgot) starting 10th grade at her new (American) school in the early 2000s, specifically 2002. Here is where the flaws surface, first, the book is too slow paced for me to enthral myself in like the last book I read and second, the storyline is too disjointed and hard for me to read, there are too many events going on like the zines, the story within the story, Win's character dynamics with her friends and other people and so on.
Third and worst of all was how the author dealt with significant issues in the narrative, because it missed the mark. Shame. It looks like the author tried to put as many trigger warnings into the book as she could (as mentioned above) without any explanation. I was left with questions about Win, like why does she have internalised fat shaming? Why does she have depression? Why does she do self harm? The art style was okay, except the purple ears. Why? It might be a stylistic choice. Or something else entirely. It's not clear why since the author never explained it to me, but at least Win goes to a mental health service. With that out of the way, the book didn't excite me and fizzled out. Shame.
Score: Six points out of ten.
Man, I'm disappointed that CBCA shortlisted this book this year for Older Readers. They could've chosen anything else but this novel, and still they chose this. Come on. Really? There are so many flaws in this novel I don't even know where to begin, and it will probably be something I would never reread. It starts with the main character Winifred (whose last name I forgot) starting 10th grade at her new (American) school in the early 2000s, specifically 2002. Here is where the flaws surface, first, the book is too slow paced for me to enthral myself in like the last book I read and second, the storyline is too disjointed and hard for me to read, there are too many events going on like the zines, the story within the story, Win's character dynamics with her friends and other people and so on.
Third and worst of all was how the author dealt with significant issues in the narrative, because it missed the mark. Shame. It looks like the author tried to put as many trigger warnings into the book as she could (as mentioned above) without any explanation. I was left with questions about Win, like why does she have internalised fat shaming? Why does she have depression? Why does she do self harm? The art style was okay, except the purple ears. Why? It might be a stylistic choice. Or something else entirely. It's not clear why since the author never explained it to me, but at least Win goes to a mental health service. With that out of the way, the book didn't excite me and fizzled out. Shame.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Fatphobia, and Self harm
Full trigger warnings: Self harm, implied depression, internalised body/fat shaming, bulimia