"Sarah Byrnes and Eric have been friends for years. When they were children, his fat and her terrible scars made them both outcasts. Later, although swimming slimmed Eric, she stayed his closest friend."Now Sarah Byrnes--the smartest, toughest person Eric has ever known--sits silent in a hospital. Eric must uncover the terrible secret she's hiding, before its dark currents pull them both under."
WOW.....I have been on the world's longest hiatus and there are not enough words to describe how depressed this makes me. I wish I'd read more over the past few months and cannot believe I am only getting back to it at the end of the year. I suppose I fail miserably at trying to increase my yearly reading amount by at least one book each year... Anyhow... I can regret getting stuck on the book that shall remain nameless until I actually finish it, but all the regret can't take back how busy I've been. I suppose that's another sort of blog entirely!
On to the review. I suppose a little bit of back story is required because this is so not what I normally read. I'm co-teaching a children's literature class next semester! I cannot wait! The professor has basically handed control of the class over to me. I chose most of the material, I designed the syllabus, created the reading guides, quizzes, journal prompts, and help with the designs of the essays. This book was not one of my own choices to have the students (hah! that feels so funny to type...especially since I have a feeling I may actually be younger than many of the students). I'm sure I'll end up reviewing the other two that I have yet to read before the semester begins. For now, we'll focus on this one.
I thought I knew what to expect from this book, but I was wrong. It was a lot deeper than I thought it would be...and darker. I don't think the professor has read this book yet either because I've known him for four years and can't imagine that he would have been so adamant about having this book in the curriculum had he read it. I think he was solely going off of the fact that his office-mate has this book on the shelf above her computer. While the book was good and I actually enjoyed reading it (so much so that I finished it in just over 24 hours), the story was much darker than I was expecting. I'm not all that certain which angle I am going to approach teaching this book as children's literature. The characters were almost too believable and the situations were incredibly tragic and heart-wrenching. I believe a lot of this has to do with the fact that the author is a family therapist and a child protection specialist. I don't think there is all that much that I can say without giving something away. The book was good...sad and terribly tragic, but good. I've got quite a challenge ahead of me now! (FYI, I'm not recommending this book for anyone less than fourteen...)
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