A review by dfram
Without Tess by Marcella Pixley

1.0

If I could have given this book less than one star, I would have. Mental health is not dealt with the delicacy that such topic requires. The author fails to draw the line between imagination and psychosis since the kids in the story seem to be so engaged in the weird things they do, it almost seems hard to believe that there’s something “off” about Tess when the other children act somewhat alike when they’re around her. I don’t know who told Marcella Pixley that it was a good idea to write about a character who suffers from an eating disorder at the age of eleven and avoid to describe anything that would validate such diagnosis. Tess “dies by suicide” and this isn’t even addressed the proper way, because it just comes off as if she was a selfish and stubborn little girl who wanted to have things her way. Lizzie’s character was annoying; she didn’t have the courage to stand up for herself a single time in the whole story. I hated how she allowed Tess and Isabella to boss her around and dictate what she believed in. Also, it’s quite ridiculous how not only did she open up to Niccolo after speaking to him once— compared to pretending she was fine when she spoke to Kaplan during their weekly sessions for FIVE years —but she kissed him or he kissed her. Whatever way it was, it was wrong. It doesn’t make sense for someone who feels responsible for a death to make out with the first person that says “it wasn’t your fault”. It just came off as if the author was trying too hard to integrate a good thing— which OBVIOUSLY had to be romance —into the plot but it was just forced and wasn’t relevant to the story at all. The whole idea of Lizzie using her sister’s poems as assignments is just stupid. The way she narrated the story was more poetic than the actual poem she wrote. Also, the whole religious aspect did not contribute anything to the story. There’s also this scene where Marty, the girls’ dad, physically forces Tess to take her medication and it’s just wrong— I understand that as a parent, he could have been frustrated to the lack of cooperation of Tess in her recovery but I don’t see how it would make sense for him to be so insensitive to her own thoughts about the treatment and the fact that she seemed compliant after he basically shoved the pills down her throat just shows that it wasn’t a good way to handle the situation. I’m sure I could go on about everything else I hated about the book, but I’m tired of complaining about it.

This was the worst book I have read in months.