ARC Review: Big Bones by Laura Dockrill
10:00
Series: None
Author: Laura Dockrill
Published March 8th 2018 by Hot Key Books
Goodreads Synopsis
Sixteen-year-old Bluebelle, also known as BB or Big Bones, lives her life unapologetically. She loves life! She loves food!
When BB has a worse-than-usual asthma attack, her mom insists she go to the doctor. There, she is told that she is overweight (no surprise) and prediabetic (big surprise) and must lose weight, move more, and keep a food diary. To get out of this immediate health crisis, she agrees to make an effort.
Then a tragedy occurs in the family, and things get seriously complicated. Suddenly, losing weight and moving more are the least of her worries. As for the food diary, though, BB doesn't just document what she's eating, she documents what she's feeling--and she has a lot to say!
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.
Bluebell Green is 16, and she's decided she's had enough of school. Rather than worrying about her GCSE results, she's going to get an apprenticeship at her weekend job - if she can convince the manager that is. When her mam drags her to the doctors following an asthma attack, the nurse tells her she needs to lose weight, and keep a food diary over the summer to track what she's been eating. She knows she's fat, and she doesn't care, but in order to placate her mam, she'll go along with it, and will even get a gym membership if she has to. But then her younger sister is injured, and BB loses her love of food, and starts to think that maybe she should make a change to her life.
I hated this book. I'll just admit it, and honestly, if I didn't want to clear it from my TBR, I would've DNFed it extremely early on. BB as a character was extremely immature - I'm not saying that as an adult complaining about a teenager being a teenager, but she didn't act like a sixteen year old, and there were far too many scenes and chapters that I would say was more like a 12 year old. She also had a horrendous relationship with food, and I'm all for being body positive, but she went around it the wrong way. It was like she wanted to shock people - especially the nurse - and would do it in any way possible. And then there was the whole plot line surrounding Dove's accident. BB acted like Dove being in a wheelchair - temporarily - was a death sentence, and the end of the world, and it was extremely ableist, and obnoxious. She also tried to make Dove's accident all about her, when really, it wasn't. Such a disappointing book!
Dates Read:
August 15-16, 2021
Rating
2 Stars
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