To Be Honest

by Maggie Ann Martin

[layawaydragon]

Content Warning: Eating Disorder w/ Hospital Stay (this is NOT the protagonist but her mom), Emotional & Psychological Child Abuse/Neglect

>>Fat girl on the cover!!!!!
>>Savannah is great. She's withstood her mother's bullshit and is firmly body positive, but does come with insecurities and defense mechanisms. I love how she put herself out there and did the work of progress. She's forced to live and deal with an unhealthy mom that's honestly cruel to her and struggling with mental health issues.
>>Great fat & anxiety rep
>>I love how the shallow, competitive "health" bullshit is put on blast where it belongs.
>>The eating disorder is handled well. I haven't had the same type tho so YMMV.
>>I think her mom was crafted and portrayed well. She's got a tragic event in the past and damage from growing up fat. She does love her daughters but clearly plays favorites and tries to "fix" Savannah. She's very relatable and understandable but not clean and easily forgiven to me. She's a victim of the TV show praying on people, but she's also emotionally and verbally abusive and neglectful. She does have a mental illness but she has to own to her actions and their effect.
>>Grace is a GREAT friend. I adore her.
>>George is a sweet, shy, musical nerd that likes to eat his foot every now and again. It's nice to see a guy that isn't the typical sex crazed, emotionally stunted posturing fool.
>>The dress shopping worried me, but it was a dream of a scene. Love loved it.
>>I was totally with Savannah the whole way through. From her reactions to George, her dad, the journalism story, Grace, etc.
>>I love how she's good at math, but it's not the end all be all. She chooses and excels at her passion which happens to be humanities, not STEM.
>> I love the journalism investigation, interviews, and turn out. It's really cute and heartening.
>>Dad was a let down at first and I really didn't think I'd change my mind about him, but I did.
>>Totally would read more of Savannah, prequels, sequels, short stories, w/e. And her sister and Yael too! I'm really curious what would happen next. This book is wrapped up nicely and it's great, but there's threads to follow for more content that's worthwhile IMHonestO. (---That abbreviation would be a great next title maybe?!?)

Not So Great Things:
>>I do wish there was more therapy and apology shown from her mom. More acknowledgement on how badly her mom (and her enabling sister) treated her, making her cave and hide when her mom was in the wrong the whole time. I hope Savannah would get therapy too. She's fine on the page, but living through that causes real deep scars and shit. Making it so easy for her mom feels like a cave in to the fatphobic society because "it's about health, she's wasn't that bad!". Yes, yes she was. It has nothing to do with health. Stop excusing abusive harmful shit. Her mom has to confront, cope, and change to properly deal with her mental illness. Letting her off the hook doesn't help anyone.
>>I feel bad the second place people did a story on immigration and the winning story was about sexism, money and abuse of power. Totally realistic, but given the current events with Trump Camps, bans, ICE, and white feminism...I just feel uncomfortable with it. Kinda wish the immigrant story had won or more about it was included, like having Savannah and Grace talking to the other students at least instead of a one line throwaway.
>>Ugh, Eminem. Look, I loved him growing up a loooong time ago but I've gotten better. Savannah is a huge fan and there's not a single moment of acknowledging how problematic and offensive the he is. Even when I was a die hard fan that defended him, I felt like shit with his fatphobic and sexist lyrics. I find it hard to believe she'd be that ignorant and not have any qualms or second thoughts about it. I'm surprised there was no angsty blasting of his music. But maybe that last part is me projecting.


Quotes:

She thought Yael was cute - Sister is gay, have w/w relationship

"Has anyone told you you'd make the perfect Miss Frizzle in a Magic School Bus reboot?" he asked, smirking a tiny bit.

"Very few people get to witness Savannah Shady. You should feel honored."

"I know that parents shouldn't be allowed to make their kids feel like shit unless they buy into their culty dogma"

"Like I'd known him for years, like we'd put a bookmark in our friendship and we were picking up where we left off.

"They should put a warning on all clarinet cases: May Cause Sexual Tension."

"She'd even called ahead to make sure that the stores we ended up going to carried my size of dresses, which took off another level of stress from my plated."

"My goal today was to find a short dress that looked as if it was made for a fun-size, five-foot-tall human."