What We’re Reading

Sisters in Sanity | Gayle Forman

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Brit Hemphill’s life takes a turn from somewhat manageable to hellish under the guise of a family trip to the Grand Canyon, which in actuality turns out to be a one-way trip for Brit to Red Rock, a Behavioral Modifcation Boot Camp masquerading as a Residential Treatment Facility. Clueless as to why she’s been sent away, and to this place of all places, Brit is not eager to comply to the rules or be easy for the people now holding her captive. Only after some friendly, if biting advice from a Level Six she doesn’t know, does she relent, and earn the beginning of her freedom by achieving Level Two.

Therapy with Dr. Clayton is a sham, at best, and Brit has nothing to say. She doesn’t know why she’s there, doesn’t consider being a teen to be a disorder, and doesn’t want to talk about her mother, who went Schizophrenic a few years ago, at which point her and her father’s lives fell apart. She’s had three years to deal with that, and doesn’t see the relevance. And she certainly doesn’t see what Dr. Clayton could have to say about it, especially since she isn’t even a Doctor.

And so it goes. Group Therapy consists of hurling insults until the victim breaks down, exercise is manual labor, the food is horrible, and a catch-22 for those with eating disorders. The overweight will never achieve any sort of progress while eating the food provided, and will be reprimanded if they don’t. The one highlight, the hikes, aren’t, as they’re really more like death marches. If not for her friendship with some of the other inmates, Brit would have been lost long ago. Even with the Divinely Fabulous Ultra-Exclusive Club of the Cuckoos behind her, Red Rock is still sometimes too much to take. And when their group gets disbanded, assigned new roommates, put under surveillance, Brit isn’t sure she’s going to make it. Not until Martha goes missing, and a girl named Pam gives Brit the true story, which the counselors will cover up, is she galvanized into action.

Brit, together with her sisters, and on the outside, Jed, and two ex-Red Rock employees, begins to build her case. At first she thought it was as easy as finding someone to tell their story. But he wouldn’t listen. So they get all the proof they can. And even then, when she shows up in person to deliver it to him, he writes her off as a spoiled kid. It seems like all is lost. Red Rock will continue on, breaking girls and calling them healed, sending home those without money, and milking those with it for all that they’ve got.

Or maybe not.

Dedicated to misunderstood girls everywhere, this is a harsh but beautiful look at how wrong we can go with the best of intentions, and how even the most backward situations can bring us to the realizations we’ve been needing to make.

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Thou Shalt not Dump the Skater Dude | Rosemary Graham

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Kelsey is less than pleased when her mother informs her they’ll be moving to California prior to her eighth grade year. On top of this, she’ll be enrolled in Susan B. Anthony—a high profile, exclusive private school for girls. Which, as Kelsey will soon inform you, is not at all what it’s cracked up to be. Despite it’s pleasant PR promises, Kelsey’s only friend that first year comes from outside the school. And if not for shared family events, she and Amy might never have hit it off either.

When her parents start pushing for a Private High School as well, Kelsey knows she has to take action. Making a compelling argument, she gets them to agree to consider EBH, the Public High School, as long as she will at least tour Scholastic—the most prestigious of the private schools. In the end, with the promise to enroll in extracurricular activities, Kelsey wins the argument, and life seems to be looking up. Until she’s informed she’ll be spending her summer babysitting her little brother at the Skate Park.

The idea enthralls neither of the siblings, who strike a deal. Josh will skate, Kelsey will sit off in the park reading, and they will only communicate when necessary. Things run along smoothly until the day Kelsey decides to take a go at the skating bowl herself. Not having skated in some time, she quickly proceeds to take a face plant. Not only that, when the famous C.J. Logan comes to lend her a hand, she elbows him in the jaw. But none of it seems to matter. He becomes her brother’s personal mentor, and she becomes his girl.

And so goes Freshman year. Watching skate practice in the afternoons, going to competitions on the weekends. Her family loves C.J., and his family, but wants to know what’s happened to the activities she was excited about. Realizing she may lose her right to public school, Kelsey signs up for yearbook, where almost nothing is expected of her.

When the end of the school year hits, after betraying Amy when she was in need, losing half of her special day with C.J. to skating yet again, and realizing she’s not much more to him than a Fan with benefits, Kelsey calls it quits. C.J. took it hard. Worried about him, Kelsey logged on to his blog on summer day to see if he was alright, only to discover herself being bashed. When she attempts to defend herself, she only makes it worse, as he responds with even more lies.

Sophomore year looms, and Kelsey feels only dread. Amy assures her that it will have blown over by then. That other people have their own drama, and won’t be obsessing over hers. Still, now forced with dealing with the big questions of who she is and where she’s going with her life, Kelsey approaches the year with mild trepidation.

This is actually a really enjoyable book to read, for all that it centers around so many unhappy topics. The narration is so blunt and straightforward, it’s hard not to laugh. Because looking back, even Kelsey knows she should have known better. And at some time, haven’t we all?

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