Saturday, September 26, 2015

Review: Paperweight by Meg Haston

Paperweight by Meg Haston
23361172
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Contemporary, Mental Health
Score: ❤❤❤❤
Page Count: 288
Stand Alone
Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: July 7, 2015

Seventeen-year-old Stevie is trapped. In her life. And now in an eating-disorder treatment center on the dusty outskirts of the New Mexico desert.
Life in the center is regimented and intrusive, a nightmare come true. Nurses and therapists watch Stevie at mealtime, accompany her to the bathroom, and challenge her to eat the foods she’s worked so hard to avoid.
Her dad has signed her up for sixty days of treatment. But what no one knows is that Stevie doesn't plan to stay that long. There are only twenty-seven days until the anniversary of her brother Josh’s death—the death she caused. And if Stevie gets her way, there are only twenty-seven days until she too will end her life.

Review:
PROS:
1. I was pretty interested in this book when I found out about its release a few months ago and I couldn't wait to dive into its story. Obviously, its not really a lighthearted book at all so I had to wait a while before I was finally in the mood for it because, you know, it talks about some pretty emotional subjects. I finally got around to reading it so without further ado, here's my review:

2. I really loved the characters in this book so first, we'll start with our main character Stevie. I thought her character was so realistic and raw and you could really see her way of thinking and how she felt towards food and her weight. She was obviously upset that she was sent to the treatment center and didn't want anything to so with her nurses, doctors or therapists, even the other girls there as well. I loved that as the book progressed, you could clearly see the changes happening in Stevie, both for better or worse, and you could see the amount of development in her. Her eating disorder was also very realistic which was an obvious sign of a very well researched subject by the author. Stevie comes from a broken home and you can see just how much she lets her emotions control her and I thought it was very interesting to be able to see so well into Stevie's mind.

3. I also really loved that the book explored different aspects of the characters, such as their home life. Stevie comes from a broken home- her mother leaving when she was young, and her brother now dead- and she's still angry about both events. However, I loved that all the girls in this book had very different home lives. One girl came a family in which she felt ignored by. Another was being abused by her own sibling. One girl even knew for herself that she had a great life with loving parents who blamed themselves for her having an eating disorder. I thought it was a great way of showing that you don't have to go through something traumatic in order to develop a life-or-death issue or even have a not-so-happy background. There are many different walks of life we take and I adored the fact that the book acknowledged that.

4. The writing was so beautiful and even poetic at times with its descriptions of emotions. You could really get a sense of just how little Stevie valued her life and you could tell just how much she wanted to kill herself and how determined she was to do so. The descriptions of how the girls felt towards their own lives and bodies was very realistic and beautifully portrayed just by the mood of the book and the writing style and even the body language of the characters with all due respect to the illness. You really got into the minds of the characters and though it was very sad to see how much they hated themselves, it was very well written.

5. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who's looking for a good book that talks about emotional subjects that are rare to see in YA literature, such as eating disorders. Now I want to give you guys some trigger warnings just in case you may have any. I don't care if some people might find these trigger warnings to be spoilers, it's more important to look out for the well being of the readers, right? This book talks a lot about Anorexia, Bulimia, Self- Harm and Suicide but it also touches on Physical Abuse, Depression, and Purging. I think this book is a great one to read if you want a book about these subjects if you've never really tried to read about them and if you want a book about learning to accept that you're not perfect and that no one else is perfect either. This book really talks about acceptance of your body, yourself and the past and learning to let go of the past.

I didn't give this book a five-star rating because I felt the ending was a bit rushed and a little slow. I would've liked to have seen it drawn out a little more to really feel satisfied with the wrap-up of the story. Also, it didn't click with me on an emotional level but then again, it takes a lot for me just to tear up while reading a book.

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I hope you guys enjoyed this book review! If you have any other book requests you would like me to review, just leave a comment or send me an email. Read on bookworms! See you in the next chapter!

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