Whitney Atkinson's Reviews > Starfish

If I would have read this when I was 11 I might have enjoyed it, but as an adult it just made me kind of sad. The main character of this book is bullied on nearly every single page. Everywhere she goes, people take jabs at her, including total strangers. Also everyone in her family hates her except her dad, but I didn't understand why her dad allowed them to treat her this way all these years? The author's note says a lot of this book was based on real interactions she had, but as a fat girl in the DFW area where this book is set, I found it hard to believe. Maybe this verse format wasn't right for those events to occur one after another after another until it felt like getting punched in the gut repeatedly.

Even taking that part out of it, the cruelty this main character experiences doesn't have that strong of a resolution, so it was a lot of negativity to wade through for just a slim silver lining and glimmer of hope. I wish we saw a little more at the end of her growth.