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A review by aethenea
Sugar by Deirdre Riordan Hall
2.0
I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Children's Publishing!
There's one word that could some up my experience with this book: FRUSTRATION!!! Unfortunately, it's not the good kind of frustration (if there can be a good kind of frustration)... I was so frustrated reading this book that I considered quitting! Sometimes you read books and their topic is very serious, you feel bad for the characters, you sympathize with them and you feel for them. In Sugar, I didn't feel none of it.
Sugar, as her nickname shows, is a very fat girl that suffers from a really bad case of insecurity. When I started reading this I thought I could connect with Sugar as I myself have never been slim. I've been overweight for the majority of my life but I decided to do something with this and lost the wight. That's the thing, when you don't suffer from some physical condition that prevest you from losing weight, you can do this, you just have to be dedicated to your goal!
Sugar hovewer... she is annoying! Sorry, I guess she has reasons to be so insecure and scared, but girl, you're almost adult, you can do something about your life! And Sugar is just whinny, she pitties herself and guess what! For 80 % of the book she does NOTHING!! to change her life. And is it a good role model for young girls that are overweight? I don't think so. Young girls should know that there are ways to be satisfied with being themselves and that they have no reason to let themselves be bullied!
Seriously, Sugar lives with her mom, who seems to be the most bitter and horrible person in the whole world. She cannot move from her bed so Sugar has to take care of her. But guess what. Mum is not grateful, Mum just bullies Sugar, yells at her, tells her she is so fat and useless. And Sugar still takes care of her mum... FRUSTRATING!
Also, Sugar lives with her brother Skunk, who is also the most annoying and horrible person in the worls. Again, he bullies Sugar not only mentally, but also physically. He's not really afraid to hit her and harm her. And again, guess what? Sugar does nothing! FRUSTRATING!!
Then comes Even, this perfect guy who is incredibly handsome, obviously likes Sugar and he's the sweetheart of the book. Also, he is just so implausible, that guy seriously cannot exist. I love sweet boys in YA literature, I fall in love with them so quickly, but I have to believe they could exist. Sorry Even, you're not my fictional boyfriend!
My ain proble is that I feel that for the majority of the book nothing happens. And when something finally happens, there's no foreswadowing, you're thrown into it in one sentence. Everything is okay, we live our frustrating lives. By the way, major plot twist happpened yesterday! Can I say something - FRUSTRATING!!!
The message is definitely good. Not skinny girls should realize that they can love themselves. This message is huge. But I don't think that those girl would get it from this book. There's also a very distinct division between black and white characters. There are not 50 shades of gray. There are not even two shades of gray. I guess there's no gray at all. You have absolutely horrible characters - Skunk and mum (and I hope that those characters cannot exist either because who could behave like this??) and than super awesome character in Even. No gray...
I wanted to enjoy the book so much, I really did. I really wanted to physically harm almost all characters in the book. I didn't like them, I could connect... And that was just too much for me. But I appreciate that there are books about characters that are not perfect. You know, not all girls have beautiful faces and sexy bodies. But what is beautiful and sexy?
You can also find this review HERE and on Amazon.
There's one word that could some up my experience with this book: FRUSTRATION!!! Unfortunately, it's not the good kind of frustration (if there can be a good kind of frustration)... I was so frustrated reading this book that I considered quitting! Sometimes you read books and their topic is very serious, you feel bad for the characters, you sympathize with them and you feel for them. In Sugar, I didn't feel none of it.
Sugar, as her nickname shows, is a very fat girl that suffers from a really bad case of insecurity. When I started reading this I thought I could connect with Sugar as I myself have never been slim. I've been overweight for the majority of my life but I decided to do something with this and lost the wight. That's the thing, when you don't suffer from some physical condition that prevest you from losing weight, you can do this, you just have to be dedicated to your goal!
Sugar hovewer... she is annoying! Sorry, I guess she has reasons to be so insecure and scared, but girl, you're almost adult, you can do something about your life! And Sugar is just whinny, she pitties herself and guess what! For 80 % of the book she does NOTHING!! to change her life. And is it a good role model for young girls that are overweight? I don't think so. Young girls should know that there are ways to be satisfied with being themselves and that they have no reason to let themselves be bullied!
Seriously, Sugar lives with her mom, who seems to be the most bitter and horrible person in the whole world. She cannot move from her bed so Sugar has to take care of her. But guess what. Mum is not grateful, Mum just bullies Sugar, yells at her, tells her she is so fat and useless. And Sugar still takes care of her mum... FRUSTRATING!
Also, Sugar lives with her brother Skunk, who is also the most annoying and horrible person in the worls. Again, he bullies Sugar not only mentally, but also physically. He's not really afraid to hit her and harm her. And again, guess what? Sugar does nothing! FRUSTRATING!!
Then comes Even, this perfect guy who is incredibly handsome, obviously likes Sugar and he's the sweetheart of the book. Also, he is just so implausible, that guy seriously cannot exist. I love sweet boys in YA literature, I fall in love with them so quickly, but I have to believe they could exist. Sorry Even, you're not my fictional boyfriend!
My ain proble is that I feel that for the majority of the book nothing happens. And when something finally happens, there's no foreswadowing, you're thrown into it in one sentence. Everything is okay, we live our frustrating lives. By the way, major plot twist happpened yesterday! Can I say something - FRUSTRATING!!!
The message is definitely good. Not skinny girls should realize that they can love themselves. This message is huge. But I don't think that those girl would get it from this book. There's also a very distinct division between black and white characters. There are not 50 shades of gray. There are not even two shades of gray. I guess there's no gray at all. You have absolutely horrible characters - Skunk and mum (and I hope that those characters cannot exist either because who could behave like this??) and than super awesome character in Even. No gray...
I wanted to enjoy the book so much, I really did. I really wanted to physically harm almost all characters in the book. I didn't like them, I could connect... And that was just too much for me. But I appreciate that there are books about characters that are not perfect. You know, not all girls have beautiful faces and sexy bodies. But what is beautiful and sexy?
You can also find this review HERE and on Amazon.