A review by bellatora
I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler
2.0
Tess is the younger, smarter, less popular sister. Kristina is a sports star and the most popular girl in school – then she gets cancer and no one can deal with it appropriately. Tess is supposed to be the saintly “strong one” but she is mostly an idiot. She’s justifiably mad at her parents, because her dad reacts by spending all his time at work (and maybe having an affair? That is just kind of an accusation thrown in and not fleshed out) & her mom deals by drinking, shopping, and still pretending that everything is perfect.
Kristina deals with having cancer by almost completely isolating herself and giving up all her activities to spend her time moping in her room. I like how everyone in the family is like, “yeah, it’s perfectly fine for our daughter to refuse to see all her friends and to become a deeply unhappy hermit. I’m not going to do anything about that.”
Kristina believes no one will like her now because of cancer, but she won’t even let them try! Not even Tess! Tess should’ve been like, “this is bullshit, they’re your friends, and you need them.” But, nope.
Tess kind of gets a reflected popularity from her sister’s cancer, but it really seems more like everyone is trying to show their support of Kristina through talking to Tess.
Tess is kind of awful – she’s supposed to be funny and smart, but I never see any evidence of that. And before the book started she only had one friend, and their main shared activity was making fun of pre-cancer Kristina. And then Tess wakes up one day and decides her friend is a terrible, selfish, unlikeable person and that’s it. And maybe she is? Or maybe it's really because Tess now has other people to hang out with? Tess' dumping of her best friend is not even portrayed as this wrenching, emotional thing. Usually there is a LOT MORE ANGST when you break up with your only friend. For Tess it was like, “oh, ew, Melissa is awful. God, why am I her friend? Whatevs, I’ve got several cute boys I talk to instead now, la!” Way to have loyalty, Tess.
And near the end of the book, Kristina’s only friend she actually talks to (Jeremy, because his mom has breast cancer). KABAM! I was not even sad I was just like, “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me. This is the most ridiculous shit ever.” Whatever, book.
This is a really hard topic, not very well done.
Kristina deals with having cancer by almost completely isolating herself and giving up all her activities to spend her time moping in her room. I like how everyone in the family is like, “yeah, it’s perfectly fine for our daughter to refuse to see all her friends and to become a deeply unhappy hermit. I’m not going to do anything about that.”
Kristina believes no one will like her now because of cancer, but she won’t even let them try! Not even Tess! Tess should’ve been like, “this is bullshit, they’re your friends, and you need them.” But, nope.
Tess kind of gets a reflected popularity from her sister’s cancer, but it really seems more like everyone is trying to show their support of Kristina through talking to Tess.
Tess is kind of awful – she’s supposed to be funny and smart, but I never see any evidence of that. And before the book started she only had one friend, and their main shared activity was making fun of pre-cancer Kristina. And then Tess wakes up one day and decides her friend is a terrible, selfish, unlikeable person and that’s it. And maybe she is? Or maybe it's really because Tess now has other people to hang out with? Tess' dumping of her best friend is not even portrayed as this wrenching, emotional thing. Usually there is a LOT MORE ANGST when you break up with your only friend. For Tess it was like, “oh, ew, Melissa is awful. God, why am I her friend? Whatevs, I’ve got several cute boys I talk to instead now, la!” Way to have loyalty, Tess.
And near the end of the book, Kristina’s only friend she actually talks to (Jeremy, because his mom has breast cancer)
Spoiler
dies in a car accidentThis is a really hard topic, not very well done.