f7e649ad_of_11___sorted_by__date_added___review
[0] checkbox [#] position [cover] cover [title] title Paperweight [author] author Haston, Meg * [isbn] isbn 006233574X [isbn13] isbn13 9780062335746 [asin] asin [num pages] num pages 304 pp [avg rating] avg rating 3.94 [num ratings] num ratings 519 [date pub] date pub Jul 02, 2015 [date pub (ed.)] date pub edition Jul 07, 2015 [rating] Thomas's rating 5 of 5 stars [my rating] my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves [notes] notes Notes are private! [recommender] recommender none [comments] comments 7 [votes] votes 69 [read count] # times read 1 [date started] date started Jul 11, 2015 [date read] date read Jul 14, 2015 [date added] date added May 06, 2015 [date purchased] date purchased [owned] owned [purchase location] purchase location [condition] condition [format] format Hardcover [29] actions view (with text) [review] 
review I have written and rewritten this sentence five times. As an eating disorder survivor and as an aspiring psychologist, I should have all the words to I have written and rewritten this sentence five times. As an eating disorder survivor and as an aspiring psychologist, I should have all the words to talk about Paperweight, a novel about a seventeen-year-old girl living in an inpatient eating disorder facility. But even after six hours away from the story, I still find myself tearing up just thinking about it. Paperweight acts as a searing account of mental illness and the strength it takes to embark on recovery. In twenty-seven days, Stevie will kill herself. She tells herself that because twenty-seven days will mark the anniversary of her brother's death, the death she caused with her own bare hands. At the moment Stevie finds herself stuck in an eating disorder treatment center near the desert of New Mexico. In order to make her ultimate plan of escape come true, she will do her best to ignore the food at mealtimes, the therapists that surround her, and the other sick, wilting girls. Stevie's determination to die drives her, and she fights for it to push her past the point of ever going back. Paperweight grabbed me from page one. If you want a young-adult novel that tackles mental illness head-on, you have found it: from her own experiences, her research, and her career, Meg Haston describes the brutal reality of inpatient ED treatment with honesty and specificity. Every detail of this book and Stevie's development resounded within me. From the way she clutched her ribs on page eleven to the way she closed her eyes to escape her emotions on page two hundred and ten, every emotion and action Stevie felt or took came across as authentic. Haston also delves into the complexity of eating disorders with aplomb. One important lesson to learn right now: eating disorders are about so much more than food. Haston reveals Stevie's saddening family history, her past toxic relationship, and the trauma she experienced to show the amalgamation of factors that comprise her disease. She highlights the harshness of eating disorders, spanning the way they distort reality, to how they create such devastating physical and mental harm, to the way they manifest as a way to control emotions that feel like explosions, like earthquakes. I find it silly that people would criticize Stevie's "unlikability" - fighting a mental illness is really freaking hard, not an easy walk in the park you can always do with a smile. And Stevie's voice is so, so real, imperfections and all. My favorite part of Paperweight centers on its relationships, without a doubt. Stevie has a multifaceted family dynamic that influences a good amount of her mentality. She also forms a slow-burning, vulnerable, and wonderful friendship with Ashley, her roommate who she refused to acknowledge of at first. But more than that, I loved her therapeutic relationship with Anna with all of my heart. Haston describes their bond so well. She avoids trivializing or idolizing Anna's character; rather, she portrays her as a professional with emotions, someone trained to guide Stevie and walk alongside her on her path to recovery. This novel slayed me in the best possible way. I cried all throughout the second half. Perhaps not everyone will enjoy this book; they may not connect all the way with Stevie, or they may find certain areas of her past too convenient. But Paperweight spoke to me in a way that very few books have. While I would hesitate to give it to someone will struggling with an eating disorder, I would 100% recommend it to anyone interested in contemporary young-adult novels, learning about and empathizing with those who face mental illness, and complex intrapersonal dynamics. Paperweight reminded me that recovery is a choice you make every single day, and that feeling life's weight means that you are, indeed, alive. For that message, I am thankful. ...more
Thomas's bookshelf: favorites (showing 1-11 of 11) (sorted by: date added)