Book Review and Giveaway: Weightless by Sarah Bannan

Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this book, free of charge,from St Martin's press, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it

blast off back to school banner

It seems only appropriate as we're taking a few last days of Summer to head to the beach for some sand and surf, but I wanted to share this coming of age novel about High School bullying with you, as it would be a great novel for teens to read before school starts!



Synopsis:

When Carolyn Lessing moves from New Jersey to Alabama with her mother, she rattles the status quo of the juniors at Adams High. Gorgeous, stylish, a great student and gifted athlete without a mean girl bone in her body Carolyn is gobbled up right away by the school's cliques. She even begins dating a senior, Shane, whose on again/off again girlfriend Brooke becomes Carolyn's bitter romantic rival. When a make-out video of Carolyn and Shane makes the rounds, Carolyn goes from golden girl to slut in an instant, with Brooke and her best friend responsible for the campaign.
Carolyn is hounded and focused on, and becomes more and more private. Questions about her family and her habits torture her. But a violent confrontation with Shane and Brooke in the student parking lot is the last attack Carolyn can take.

Review:

Ah, small towns in the South...



And there in a nutshell was the kernel of the issue in the book. Carolyn is different, she isn't from there. She isn't known to everyone, she has no roots in the community. With kids who have been together since kindergarten, different is not always good, or comfortable. It is something almost to be feared. And what is the easiest way to deal with fear? De-mystyify it by taking away it 's hold over you. In Carolyn's case, this means bullying and shaming. In many ways,the high school is shown as a microcosm of the real world, where fear equals hate for no reason, other than the unknown.



The author uses this idea in her narrative, having Carolyn's tale told from different perspectives,and the reader gets info like anyone else would- not sure what is truth, what is gossip and what are lies. As the story unfolds the reader can't help but to keep rapidly turning the page, wanting to find out the truth about what happened, and the results from it. As an adult reader, you'll be questioning why no one stepped in sooner to stop the inevitable 'train wreck', but you can also see why they were lulled by misdirection into not doing so. This is a really important book for mothers and daughters to read, and to discuss and make up plans of action, for when (probable) similar bullying occurs in their school/life!I highly recommend it!



About the Author:

Sarah Bannan grew up in New York, Texas, Florida and Alabama. She is the Head of Literature for the Irish Arts Council and lives in Dublin, Ireland, with her husband and daughter.Weightless is her first novel. 



flashing Win

Giveaway:

One BTHM reader will win this review copy!

Comments