is the gripping story of Lia, an anorexic girl who struggles with control after her best friend Cassie dies alone in a hotel room. She left thirty-three messages for Lia before she died. And now Lia deals with the grief and responsibility she feels - all while maintaining control at the very least over her own body.
Things I Liked:
Wow. Really, Anderson writes stuff that is hard to read - stuff that really makes you sit down and think. I am sure this book will speaks to people who struggle with eating disorders. I've never had an eating disorder, but as a woman, I have dealt with my own body image issues. This book looks at these things without flinching. You get right into the mind of Lia and see just what she thinks and why. Control. Strength. Power. All of these things play a huge part in Lia's disorder. This book is hard to read. Hard to put down. Impossible to forget.
Things I Didn't Like:
I really didn't like hearing about some of these things. I really didn't want to see some of what happened. But, I'm glad I did. I got a small glimpse of what it's like.
Read-alikes:
Read Speak
by Anderson - iconic YA about difficult issuesAnything by Chris Crutcher - I've read Whale Talk
Also reminded me (not topic wise) of Monster
by Walter Dean Myers*all of these are mature books - probably best suited for older teens*
BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@#
moderate amount of them
mrg-factor: X
some things mentioned - nothing described
v-factor: ->->->
not regular violence, but some cutting and other frightening images
Overall rating: ***
Not sure how to rate this one. I didn't "like" it, but it was very powerful...if you do ratings how do you indicate this?
