Gabriela Martinez Martinez itibaren Texas
The ending was surprising and tragic. I absolutely loved this book! It isn't very surprising that it received the Newbery Honor.
This book is AWFUL. I could not live with myself if someone else started reading this after reading this review. It is poorly written and even more poorly edited. I hope the "editor" of this book is enjoying his or her second career, which should be one far away from books, words, or reading. The grammatical and stylistic errors are so pervasive it is distracting. Examples: to (or for, or with) my mother and I (this is repeated throughout); it finally "donned" on me (repeated at least twice); forgetting the pseudonym chosen for the insurance person at the clinic (mostly she is Marta, but at least twice so far she's been Norma, once she was Marta and Norma in the same paragraph!), a lack of understanding of the difference between literally and figuratively; "franticly"... Perhaps the craziest thing came during what could have been a real point, that the only condition besides obesity which apparently is "acceptable" by the public to make fun of is dwarfism (no one makes fun of cancer, or diabetes, or other conditions, but somehow these two are fair game for mockery...). But then she ruins any credibility she may have had left by referring to the psychologist doing her pre-surgical consult as a "Keebler elf" and saying she wanted to pick him up by his tiny waist. Didn't anyone read this before it got published??? I almost never stop reading a book before finishing, so I will see this through to the end. But all I can do is wonder how she will top the Keebler elf. ** OK, I'm done, and thank goodness. If only it were possible to give a negative number of stars.