Thursday, August 16, 2012

Jackie Morse Kessler's Hunger



Lisabeth Lewis is not your average teenager. In my opinion, she has everything a teenager wishes for, to live in the same household with both, working parents and to have their own room. She has friends and a boyfriend, what young girl would not view her life as being perfect.

As the novel unfolds and reveals that people cannot judge a book by its cover is exactly how I view Lisabeth's life. This novel explores the life of a young girl who is dealing with anorexia, which is a mental issue that young girls are facing in today's society. People, adults/parents, are unaware of the danger that t children are dealing with on the outside surface. For instance, Lisabeth's mother is not fully involved in her daughter's life because she is always out of town due to her work schedule. Also, her father who looks at his daughter as his little princess, a little girl in his mind, does not recognize the changes in his daughter.  In addition, both parents noticed something is different but was too afraid to really point out the differences in what they view within their daughter besides telling her she needs to eat, or she looks too thin. What can parents do in situations like Lisabeth?  The author does not touch on that subject on how to help parents help their children or beware and even notice certain behavior problems that screams out, I need help. I also disagree with the author on how he depicted the parents as being self-involved in their own lives, rather than focus on what is bothering their daughter. It should have been told from both view points, so that young adults can view both sides of how a mental disease can change relationships, even with their parents as well as with their friends.


From my point of view, the novel is really not that appealing, it was really boring. There was no suspense with developing the plot, nothing stood out, it was basically handed to the readers, something that I do not like in my readings.  It did not  keep my attention, but the issue at hand was easy to point out. Lisabeth is fighting with her own demons. Something that everyone, young or old has to face in reality. How to overcome certain obstacles that may stand in ones way of growing and reaching ones goals. The idea of creating the Four Horseman, to represent different hallucinations of the mind, was something that I did not find appealing at all, but I am not a young adult. What I do applaud the author on is creating a novel that can reach out to young girls and boys to let them know that they are not alone when facing an issue. For example, Lisabeth's friends was concerned about her, they tried reaching out to her, and they never left her side. Overall, I can recommend this book to other teachers because of the message that it represents.

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