Name: Looks
ISBN: 9780670061679

Madeleine George

Two high school girls, one an anorexic poet and the other an obese loner, form an unlikely friendship.

Looks

Hannah Yang

I feel crazy conflicted about Looks. Looks is the story of Aimee Zorn and Meghan Ball. Aimee's skinny and basically doesn't eat because of "allergies" and Meghan's the most obese person in the school. Yet, they're both invisible in their own ways. 

Let me first talk about the story: the gist of it is that Aimee is a poet, and Meghan observes everything. Aimee befriends Cara, a fellow poet and Meghan's ex-bestie. Cara turns out to be a total self-pitying, plagiarizing, heartbroken jerk (who you still can't help feeling sorry for). Aimee and Meghan team up to bring Cara down, and the story sort of ends there.

The main reason I felt dissatisfied with this book was because it wasn't exactly what it promised: This provocative story explores the ways in which girls use food and their bodies to say what they cannot: I'm lonely. I didn't see that here. Maybe with Aimee a little (and I reeeally wish she and her mom had that Conversation) but not with Meghan at all. The story itself is somewhat engaging, although not enough to make the book a complete page-turner. I just thought it didn't flow together smoothly until the end, when Meghan and Aimee begin to befriend each other.

I did like the chapter in which Meghan reveals her history with Cara. Since reading the plot I was very curious about how Cara hurt both of them - although I can relate to Aimee's feeling more because I write poetry and I would absolutely loathe someone who stole a poem I wrote, Meghan's backstory made her a more likable character for me. 

As for the characters.. Meghan was kind of an eh for me. I liked the idea: someone who cannot disappear physically but is actually invisible (and I liked her talk with her teacher) but I felt like she was too invisible. I didn't see or feel her at all as a character until her backstory. Of course, I felt bad for her because she was treated so badly, but I couldn't strike an emotional connection with her and preferred reading Aimee's sections more.

Aimee was better than Meghan. I liked reading about her family problems and I could feel her softening to her mom just a teensy bit at the end. I reeeally liked her poetry. However, I'm curious as to why Aimee's so pointed and defiant. How did she become the way she is today? - that's what I'm really interested in. (Also, I know that she has an eating disorder as much as she tries to deny it, but I'm not sure why this is pitched as an eating disorder book because it's reaaally not the focus of the story.)

Cara was your typical backstabbing girl. She and Meghan were childhood best friends, until Cara fell in love and ditched Meghan to improve her image. Except, her love ended up breaking her heart and she ends up being a dorky teacher's pet. The worst part about her is how she makes herself the victim, even accusing Meghan of not being her friend. And accusing of Aimee of trying to owning ideas. Yet at the same time she's been through a lot and you can't help but want to make her happy. I think Cara's character was the most dynamic and developed, and although the things she did were rotten, you cannot help but to feel sympathy for her.

J-Bar just confused me the whole time. I don't understand his grossness with Meghan, I feel super disgusted by how he treats people in general, and just... ew.

The writing itself was alright, but not exactly engaging. I think it's written in.. third person present tense? It's pretty tricky, because I kept feeling like the writing was getting boring. It was also harder to connect with the characters because feeling their inner thoughts was much more difficult. However, if you can plow through, it really is a story worthy of your time.

I would say that Looks is a great book for middle school girls, especially those who don't feel comfortable with their appearance / body shape, and writers (especially poets). While I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought it would, it was still decent and you should definitely give it a try!

Looks

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