Title: Skinny
Author: Donna Cooner
Book #: 1
Pages: 272
Reading Level: YA
Book Rating:
Goodreads Rating: 4.04
T.B.Published: October 1st, 2102
Find your voice.
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.
Taschima's POV:
It's s simple solution, really. Girl loves boy. Boy loves girl. Girl gets fat. Boy leaves. Girl cuts her stomach up into a little bitty pouch to get boy back.
-Ever, Skinny
The first time I wanted to read this book was in a Scholastic event where the author (along with some other helpers) played out the dialogue in the story out loud for the audience. From what heard from those few paragraphs I was intrigued. I got the book. Back at home, on a whim, I took it out off it's place in line in my TBR pile and read the back. The I read the first page, and the second page, and the third page... soon enough I was hooked.
The story undeniably has it's cheesy parts. From the predictable, Cinderella loosely based, overall plot, to the traditional high school experiences (being accepted into the "cool" crowd, going to the BIG dance, etc.), the cheese is deeply rooted. But then you get these glimpses into the characters souls and then you realize that they aren't as cookie cutted, they are more complicated than you might first think. My favorite character in the whole story wasn't Ever, the main character, it was her evil step sister Briella. That character alone was so complicated and it felt more alive to me than any other in that story. It seemed to me Briella wanted her story to be told as well, and even though she didn't have the spotlight she still manages to shine through. Ever is also a very complicated character that deals with a lot of issues, and although sometimes I found her unlikable as a person I could also appreciate the realness of the character. Being inside Ever's head was an experience I would not pass on though. Ever, Briella and Rat are the characters to watch out for here.
Also this isn't the kind of book that is trying to advise against having the gastric bypass surgery, I just wanted to clarify that because some books would take this as an opportunity to preach but Skinny does no such thing. I think the way it handled the whole thing was just right. It gives you all the needed information, but it doesn't feed it down your throat, nor does it try to sway you to think one decision is definitely better than the next.
The love story is as well cheesy and predictable, but it's so cute at the same time! And real, ya know? The whole time I was like, oh I know how this is going to happen, I know how you guys are going to go about it, but I can't help it, let it run it's course! This book is like a regular chick flick. You know how it's going to go down but you still buy the movie ticket and invite all your girlfriends along for the ride.
Because this book has a heart. It really does pull at your heart strings, and it's freaking entertaining. Reading about Ever's journey is worth it, worth your money, and definitely worth your time. I am so not a YA contemporary girl, but I wouldn't pass on Skinny for the world. It's really a book any girl, or boy, could relate to, because we all have had that voice in our heads that brings us down. And it is oh so satisfying to see how Ever kicks the hell out of that voice down to the grown.
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