ARC Review: Skinny by Donna Cooner

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:

Release Date: October 1, 2012
Publisher: Point
272 Pages

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.

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Review:

This book really hit home for me. As an overweight adult, who has been struggling with her weight since middle school, I immediately understood this character. I tend to understand many characters' emotions in this type of situation, but not all of them speak to me like the female lead of Skinny did. Books that deal with social, mental and physical issues as Skinny does can either be super, super great or giant pieces of crap. Luckily enough, Skinny pulls off the emotions and realistic plot brilliantly.

Skinny is about a teenage girl named Ever who is more than struggling with her weight. Since the death of her mother, eating has been the only thing to help her and even though it is also hurting her, she can't stop. It doesn't help that her inner thoughts nag at her constantly. She calls these thoughts, Skinny, the girl who sits on her shoulder, or in the back of her mind and tells Ever that she will never be pretty, or thin, or good enough. Throughout the novel, Ever has to deal with these thoughts until she can realize that she doesn't have to be perfect for people to see her, and find the strength within herself to end the torment that Skinny brings.

The characters in this novel are realistic. Ever is just like every other teenage girl, insecure and while she fronts being confident and nonchalant, she really just wants to be liked and to be seen for who she is and not for how much she weighs. Rat is absolutely wonderful. I've got a super huge soft spot for nerds and he fits into that perfectly. I want my own Rat - please don't buy me an actually rat, those terrify me. Rat, the human, is a fantastic best friend, even though Ever might not always see it. Briella is a very misunderstood character and she's a lot more like Ever than Ever realizes. The minor characters only add to the story. They really bring to life the struggles of high school. There is gossip and bullying, but it's the kind you actually see in schools - not the exaggerated kind you see on television shows, in a lot of books and in movies. Ever deals with the comments, though inwardly, they break her spirit more and more every day.

Skinny is inspiring. Not just because this girl loses so much weight. No. It's inspiring because she is able to overcome the voice in the back of her head that would force her to see the stereotypical "faults" she has. Skinny is about finding peace with who you are, no matter how much you way, how smart you are or what you look like. That's why I enjoyed it, because I think that, in the end, that message was put across beautifully. I was almost brought to tears a few times. 

This is a great read for younger of young adults. It won't make everything easier, but Skinny gives you a new perspective on things. As you read, you'll see a message that is given all the time in a realistic high school setting and a character that you can easily relate to. If you take anything from this novel it should be, that you shouldn't let anything keep you from being yourself. I applaud Donna Cooner for a wonderful novel. She's an author I would definitely like to read more from!

I received an ARC of this novel in a giveaway.