Book 26: Skinny

TITLE: Skinny
AUTHOR: Donna Cooner
STARTED: October 12, 2013
FINISHED: October 12, 2013
PAGES: 264
GENRE: Young Adult

FIRST SENTENCE: I know what they think because she whispers their thoughts into my ear.

SUMMARY: [From BN] 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.

THOUGHTS: I found this book to be a complicated read. The narrative was easy to follow, but the emotions I felt while reading this book were all over the place. This is a Young Adult book, but I don't think I could have handled this book as a teen. Skinny tells the story of an obese teenager who opts to get weight-loss surgery. The author was very careful to not have other characters "fat shame" Ever, but Ever internalizes all those same feelings. This book was good in the sense that it discusses a very difficult subject in our society but it often made me uncomfortable. Maybe that was the point.

It's impossible for me to review this book without bringing in the greater role that society and it's views of obesity play. I was once 60 pounds overweight, and have, through my own journey, lost 50 of those pounds. I saw a lot of myself in Ever which, I think, complicates my view of this novel. I can relate to Ever on many levels, but not on all of them. It's hard for me to read this book without seeing Ever's journey through the eyes of my own experience. Like Ever, I conquered my fear of Skinny, but the battle is never over. I greatly appreciated how Cooner did not make this story a fairy tale. Ever gets romance in her own way, but there's no BMOC sweeping her off her feet at the end. Yes, Ever may go through a makeover and make new friends with her weight-loss, but she also comes to understand how her actions pre- and post- surgery have played a role in her own attitude to and reception of others.

I think this is may become an important book in the YA canon because it shows a side of a complicated issue that is willfully overlooked. Obesity is an issue we often don't talk about out of fear of insulting others. This book has delicately but strongly handled a very sensitive issue. I commend Cooner for writing this story.

RATING: 7/10 [Very Good]

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