Selin Hekimoglu/Edge columnist
Anorexia, divorce, and depression all happening simultaneously in one family. Do all family dynamics have to be like this?
Skin is Adrienne Maria Vrettos’s first published novel, and her emotional story dives deep into the effects that eating disorders have on people’s lives.
The novel is told from the perspective of a 14-year-old boy, Donnie, who watches as his life changes right before his eyes. While trying to understand his 16-year-old sister Karen’s battle with anorexia, his parents are struggling to keep their marriage intact.
One comment made to Karen about her body changed the way she felt about herself. Her relationship with food begins to influence her relationship with Donnie, who witnesses a dramatic change in her eating habits.
Donnie goes through extreme efforts in trying to bring his sister back to good health. He remembers how Karen always looked after him, and now he felt it was time for him to return the favor.
While his parents are dealing with the collapse of their marriage, he feels that the responsibility of fixing everything now falls on him.
Throughout the novel, Donnie struggles with making himself feel seen by others. He slowly loses his sister to an eating disorder, loses contact with his two best friends, and starts feeling more invisible to others.
After always neglecting his own needs to focus on resolving his family’s problems, he starts to lose himself too. He eventually learns to accept his new life; a life where he was unknown to others.
Skin does a fantastic job highlighting many real-life issues that are seen today.
The novel starts off with a family that appears to be happy, but as the story progresses, they are unable to overcome their struggles.
It shows clearly how a family can fall apart no matter how much effort is put into keeping it together. Rather than focusing on all the positive aspects that make up a family, it shows the negative aspects too.
This book is especially ideal for high school students, as the age of the main characters are within the same range, and it includes content related to the lives of adolescents.
Every character in the story has been given their own unique personalities, which makes it interesting getting to read about each one of them.
The main character, Donnie, takes on problems that many people would deem a 14-year-old to be too immature to handle. Though, in the story he proves otherwise. With each hardship, he continues to push through and work towards a solution.
To anyone who seeks long-lasting inspiration from a quick read, Skin is a guaranteed good book to invest time in.
Pictures: