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A review by lydhavens
Without Tess by Marcella Pixley
4.0
This book switches from the past to the present, the past telling the story of two sisters, Tess and Lizzie. Tess lives in a magical fantasy world of Merlin and Pegasuses. Lizzie plays along to please her sister, but as she gets older, she begins to hate how the magical world has transformed her sister. Tess's world seems to make her go crazy; she starves herself (food is seen as too "mortal" to her) and feels a loathing for Isabella Amadeo, their neighbor who becomes Lizzie's best friend. Tess begins to see a doctor and is prescribed pills, but she spits them in the toilet or hides them away in her mattress and socks. One night, Tess drags Lizzie to a nearby dock and they both jump in, but Tess never reaches the surface, drowning.
Present Lizzie is now a teenager who wears all black to fade away, and sees a school counselor. She is failing all of her classes except for her poetry class, as she turns in the poetry Tess wrote years ago in her Pegasus Journal. Lizzie feels like she murdered Tess and keeps to herself.
This book was very gripping, but had a lot of faults. Tess's poetry seemed way too mature to be written by an eleven-year-old. The author is a very good poet, but almost too good compared to eleven year olds. Teenage Lizzie was not likable at all, and I would wonder sometimes if she had a mental sickness herself because of how she acted around her counselor, Dr. Kaplan. I also felt the ending was too rushed, I would've loved to see more development and closure. But overall, this was a beautiful book and I feel like it's going to stick with me for a while.
Present Lizzie is now a teenager who wears all black to fade away, and sees a school counselor. She is failing all of her classes except for her poetry class, as she turns in the poetry Tess wrote years ago in her Pegasus Journal. Lizzie feels like she murdered Tess and keeps to herself.
This book was very gripping, but had a lot of faults. Tess's poetry seemed way too mature to be written by an eleven-year-old. The author is a very good poet, but almost too good compared to eleven year olds. Teenage Lizzie was not likable at all, and I would wonder sometimes if she had a mental sickness herself because of how she acted around her counselor, Dr. Kaplan. I also felt the ending was too rushed, I would've loved to see more development and closure. But overall, this was a beautiful book and I feel like it's going to stick with me for a while.