Skinny by Donna Cooner

Pages: 260
Intended Audience: Teens and Mature Tweens
Genre: Real Life / Social Issues
Notes for parents: Some mature scenes

The Back Cover

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, unwhispered thoughts her classmates have about her. Ever knows she weighs over three hundred pounds and that 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 and strong 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 long 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.

What the Back Cover doesn’t tell you:

First-time author Donna Cooner was a gastric-bypass patient herself.

What’s good?

Good pacing and an even flow make this Cinderella story a quick and easy read. The characters are well-drawn and likeable. I love how the main character, Ever, is deserving of sympathy but also held responsible for many of her worst moments. Ever’s inner voice, however, is the star as far as I’m concerned. Known as Skinny, she is a strong and imaginative character that represents a similar voice in all of us. Skinny is a powerful reminder that we are all, at times, our own worst enemy. I liked the eventual shift in Ever’s relationship with her step-sister Briella and the ultimate message it delivers. Although the parallels to the Cinderella story were sometimes a bit corny, it was entertaining.
Best part: Skinny.
 

What’s not so good?

Oh, where do I start? Be aware that what follows may contain spoilers!
The story is sadly predictable. Ever’s decision to have gastric-bypass surgery is a fairly easy one (the author alludes to Ever’s previous struggles, but never allows us to feel emotionally involved in those struggles), her success after the surgery appears quite effortless, and her resulting popularity and confidence are a direct result of her weight loss. Ugh!
Ever never deals with the reasons behind her eating disorder – her mother’s death, her loneliness, her lack of self-esteem. Her decision to have surgery is a cursory one and her motives are superficial – to get the boy, to go to the dance, to get the part in the play, to be happier. There’s no mention of physical or mental health. The story glosses over food as an addiction and presents surgery as a quick fix that doesn’t require counseling, education, family support, or any real lifestyle changes.
Worst of all, she loses all that weight only to realize that people didn’t dislike her because she was fat, they disliked her because she was mean, and angry, and not open to friendship. I didn’t buy that.
Worst part: The overall message

Recommendations þþooo

This was an increasingly common issue that was grossly oversimplified. We learn to pity Ever’s situation rather than understand it. We learn that that problems are easier to solve if you lose weight. We learn that fat people’s problems are mostly self-inflicted and the solution is for them to just change. There was great potential in this book to offer amazing insight into a world rarely visited, but unfortunately even the author suggests that you have to be skinny to be worthy of a story. Sadly, this was a miss for me.

Cooner, Donna. Skinny. New York: Point, 2012.