Reviews provided by Syndetics
Publishers Weekly Review
Annabel Greene, who narrates, lives with her gorgeous sisters in a glass house designed by their architect father, in Dessen's (This Lullaby) familiar suburb of Lakeview. Predictably, the surface perfection masks trouble. Oldest sister Kirsten, "the family powder keg," has left for New York. When middle sister Whitney follows to pursue a modeling career, the two clash, and Whitney returns home with a full-blown eating disorder. Their mother, Grace, operates in what Annabel wryly calls the "default Greene family mode," pretending everything is just fine. Annabel, who inherited this trait, nevertheless begins her junior year as a pariah. Flashbacks reveal that her unwanted status is the result of something that happened with the boyfriend of her ex-best friend, a vicious girl who believes "everyone had a place and it was her job to make sure you knew yours." What moves this story beyond problem novel fare is Dessen's nuanced characters, especially hulking Owen, another outcast who, in befriending Annabel, reminds her not to judge by appearances, while steeping her in his eclectic musical tastes. Annabel sharply observes everyone's blinders, including most of her own-with one disturbing exception. The heroine paints her problem as social ostracism, when really the situation is much more serious. But since Annabel "[doesn't] do confrontations," she swallows the truth until her attacker victimizes someone else. Comparisons to Melinda, the heroine of Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, are inevitable. Dessen packs a lot into this novel, perhaps too much; but Annabel and Owen's finely limned connection alone gives this novel staying power. Ages 12-up (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Annabel Greene seemingly had everything: cool friends, close family, good grades, and a part-time modeling career in town. But it all came crashing down, and Annabel has spent the summer in shaky, self-imposed exile. She finds herself dreading the new school term and facing, well, everyone again. The last thing she wants to do is revisit old friendships-while the losses are painful, the secrets behind the rifts are almost unbearable. Her solid family seems fragile, too. What happened to cause the stiff silences and palpable resentments between her two older sisters? Why is no one in her loving but determinedly cheerful family talking about her middle sister's eating disorder? Annabel's devastating secret is revealed in bits and snatches, as readers see her go to amazing lengths to avoid confrontation. Caught between wanting to protect her family and her own struggles to face a devastating experience, Annabel finds comfort in an unlikely friendship with the school's most notorious loner. Owen has his own issues with anger, but has learned to control it and helps her realize the dangers of holding in her emotions. Dessen explores the interior and exterior lives of her characters and shows their flaws, humanity, struggles, and incremental successes. This is young adult fiction at its best, delving into the minds of complex, believable teens, bringing them to life, and making readers want to know more about them with each turn of the page.-Roxanne Myers Spencer, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 8-11. After being caught with her best friend's Sophie's boyfriend at a summer party, Annabel Greene is starting her junior year alone and ostracized. But what appeared to be infidelity was really attempted rape. Fans of Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak (1999) will find obvious parallels here, including the play on the title, but Dessen spins her own quality tale of a young girl finding her voice, and finding an audience. Annabel's troubles are exacerbated by her family's refusal to acknowledge its problems: middle sister Whitney's severe anorexia or the three sisters' waning interest in modeling. A budding friendship with classmate Owen, a dj at the community radio station who is never without music to drown out the silence, helps Annabel listen to her own heart and risk speaking out honestly. Characterization and dialogue are expertly done, and Owen's anger-management advice and efforts to broaden Annabel's music tastes (Don't think, or judge. Just listen ) strengthen the theme of the story: honesty. Teen girls who meet Dessen for the first time here will be looking for her backlist. --Cindy Dobrez Copyright 2006 Booklist
Horn Book Review
(High School) Annabel is nice. She is nice enough to take local modeling jobs to make her mother happy, watch the History Channel with her father when no one else will, and go out of her way to befriend others. She's so nice that when her own problems -- a falling-out with self-absorbed best friend Sophie and the subsequent social shunning -- threaten to overwhelm her, she says nothing at all. It wouldn't be nice to draw attention away from more important things, like her sister's silent struggle with anorexia. The problem with nice, though, in the words of anger-management-alum and alternative-music-nut Owen (the only classmate still speaking to Annabel), is that ""it usually involves not telling the truth."" As her relationship with Owen deepens, Annabel is inspired to speak, to argue, and finally to reveal the truth about the sexual assault that ended her friendship with Sophie. In delicate, unassuming prose, naturally flowing dialogue, and a complex, credible plot, Dessen portrays Annabel's socially endorsed self-repression with depth and intensity. The romance with Owen, which forms the core of the story, is everything a romance should be -- challenging, heartfelt, and most of all organic. In the end, families are healed, friendships are resurrected, and love -- in all its unexpected incarnations -- triumphs. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Book Review
An easily digestible tale about a 17-year-old model who, despite her recent back-to-school clothing commercial, isn't really "[t]he girl who has everything." Annabel secretly wants to quit modeling; one of her sisters has an eating disorder; and their mother's past depression makes expressing any unhappiness feel risky. Underneath Annabel's silence is a secret from the previous spring, a secret that astute readers will decode early on. It's the reason she's a social outcast and it makes her cling extra hard to fake cheerfulness. Oddball schoolmate Owen cracks her shield with candor and music, and Annabel learns to speak her own truth. Readers may be disappointed that after so much buildup to the moments of truth-telling (one to her family, one to Owen), we're not privy to the scenes. Despite dark issues, the overall tone is mild. Dessen's characterizations are glib, each metaphor and major point made explicit. Not deep, but absorbing and enjoyable. (Fiction. YA) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.