A review by pikasqueaks
I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler
3.0
I was initially disappointed with going back to read the book that came before Gurtler's latest because I knew the reviews I'd read didn't give such stellar feedback. But what do other reviewers know, anyway?
Unfortunately, this book (and the story itself) suffered from that thing that drives me crazy: cancer. I've gone on and on about the cancer before (to sum it up: snooze, I get it, everyone knows a person who died or survived, it's no longer as unique or special or individualized a battle as the tacky Facebook shared posts would have us believe), so I'm going to talk a bit about why I'M NOT HER stood out, instead. It's something you see a lot in YA books about sisters: the beauty/brains dichotomy.
There's the pretty sister and the smart sister. There's resentment from the smart sister, who is apparently not just smart, but socially isolated because her older sister's a flawless beautiful athletic superhuman goddess who counts calories and has a bright future in volleyball. There's obvious favoritism from the parents, who choose to ignore Tess and her interests for the most part, and let her older sister's bright future take over.
But it's such a straight dichotomy in the book. Not just in the way the characters are, but in the way everyone regards it and how it's presented. Tess isn't just a little resentful of her older sister's beauty and social standing, she regards it as being shallow -- like a person can't possible have both.
She's not the only one who puts it that way. Several characters draw that dichotomy out further, but sometimes in different ways. Sometimes Tess is the good one because she's "got something else" and that something else is intelligence.
Kristina laments the fact that she's hideous because she's got cancer and no one would want to flirt with her because of it, but when things get serious with her cancer treatment, the sisters have an eye-opening exchange that drives it all home. Kristina asks Tess is she likes being smart, and Tess says yes. Kristina tells her sister that she like(d) being beautiful.
And it almost redeemed everything else in the book for me, because that's a powerful line. These people in Kristina's life, Tess included, sometimes don't recognize that for some people, beauty is important. It might not be everything, but it's a huge deal. Some people spend immense time cultivating their bodies and their faces, learning how to apply the best makeup in the most flattering ways, counting calories and staying fit. And not every time does that get recognized as being worthwhile, because for years we've all been telling each other that beauty's only skin deep and it's what's on the inside that counts.
But it's not always. Guys, can we be real? Appearance matters. I think this book does a great job of working to remind people that appearance is important. It's not awful and it doesn't have to be terribly shallow for someone to be into how they look and try to look their best.
It's okay to love your face. We should all try to do that more often.
And even Tess realizes, as she's trying on some jeans that make her ass look great, that it's possible to have both. But that gets ripped away by her melodramatic mother, and what could have been a great plot point never really gets revisited. Tess' time in the spotlight fades as things get more serious with her sister -- and though I would have liked to see this girl come into her own and harvest her power, she only draws deeper into who she always was.
Unfortunately, this book (and the story itself) suffered from that thing that drives me crazy: cancer. I've gone on and on about the cancer before (to sum it up: snooze, I get it, everyone knows a person who died or survived, it's no longer as unique or special or individualized a battle as the tacky Facebook shared posts would have us believe), so I'm going to talk a bit about why I'M NOT HER stood out, instead. It's something you see a lot in YA books about sisters: the beauty/brains dichotomy.
There's the pretty sister and the smart sister. There's resentment from the smart sister, who is apparently not just smart, but socially isolated because her older sister's a flawless beautiful athletic superhuman goddess who counts calories and has a bright future in volleyball. There's obvious favoritism from the parents, who choose to ignore Tess and her interests for the most part, and let her older sister's bright future take over.
But it's such a straight dichotomy in the book. Not just in the way the characters are, but in the way everyone regards it and how it's presented. Tess isn't just a little resentful of her older sister's beauty and social standing, she regards it as being shallow -- like a person can't possible have both.
She's not the only one who puts it that way. Several characters draw that dichotomy out further, but sometimes in different ways. Sometimes Tess is the good one because she's "got something else" and that something else is intelligence.
Kristina laments the fact that she's hideous because she's got cancer and no one would want to flirt with her because of it, but when things get serious with her cancer treatment, the sisters have an eye-opening exchange that drives it all home. Kristina asks Tess is she likes being smart, and Tess says yes. Kristina tells her sister that she like(d) being beautiful.
And it almost redeemed everything else in the book for me, because that's a powerful line. These people in Kristina's life, Tess included, sometimes don't recognize that for some people, beauty is important. It might not be everything, but it's a huge deal. Some people spend immense time cultivating their bodies and their faces, learning how to apply the best makeup in the most flattering ways, counting calories and staying fit. And not every time does that get recognized as being worthwhile, because for years we've all been telling each other that beauty's only skin deep and it's what's on the inside that counts.
But it's not always. Guys, can we be real? Appearance matters. I think this book does a great job of working to remind people that appearance is important. It's not awful and it doesn't have to be terribly shallow for someone to be into how they look and try to look their best.
It's okay to love your face. We should all try to do that more often.
And even Tess realizes, as she's trying on some jeans that make her ass look great, that it's possible to have both. But that gets ripped away by her melodramatic mother, and what could have been a great plot point never really gets revisited. Tess' time in the spotlight fades as things get more serious with her sister -- and though I would have liked to see this girl come into her own and harvest her power, she only draws deeper into who she always was.