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15th out of 105 books
—
247 voters
Looks
An unforgettable debut novel about the way we look at others, and the way we see ourselves.
Meghan Ball is both the most visible and the most invisible person in school. Her massive size is impossible to ignore, yet people freely spill their secrets in front of her, perhaps because they think she isn't listening. But she is. Now her attention has turned to a new girl: Aime
...moreHardcover, 240 pages
Published
June 12th 2008
by Viking Juvenile
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Nov 10, 2012
Jennifer Wardrip
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
trt-posted-reviews
Reviewed by Karin Librarian for TeensReadToo.com
Meghan is obese. She is the largest person at Valley Regional High and her hulking size, oddly enough, allows her to blend into the background. Most people are too uncomfortable to make eye contact and most teachers are content to allow her to remain silent during class discussions. Meghan doesn't have any friends, but she knows a lot about everyone at school.
Aimee is reed thin. Her list of foods that give her a "bad reaction" grows every day. Abou...more
Meghan is obese. She is the largest person at Valley Regional High and her hulking size, oddly enough, allows her to blend into the background. Most people are too uncomfortable to make eye contact and most teachers are content to allow her to remain silent during class discussions. Meghan doesn't have any friends, but she knows a lot about everyone at school.
Aimee is reed thin. Her list of foods that give her a "bad reaction" grows every day. Abou...more
I've tried to write a professional and captivating review for this book for the last 10 minutes, but I'm just too excited about it to sit still and get it all out properly. Let me just summarize with bullet points:
- one girl is obese, and one girl is tiny, yet there is no mention of dieting or counseling and no attempt to "fix" the girls in any way, shape, or form
- there is no clear beginning or end, and the plot is a building block, not scaffolding
- the language is poetic without overreaching,...more
- one girl is obese, and one girl is tiny, yet there is no mention of dieting or counseling and no attempt to "fix" the girls in any way, shape, or form
- there is no clear beginning or end, and the plot is a building block, not scaffolding
- the language is poetic without overreaching,...more
8 likes · like · see review
view all 7 comments
Meghan and Aimee are both invisible in their own ways. Meghan's obesity renders her a non-person to everyone at school and Aimee's eating disorder make her almost literally disappear into herself. They find each other and partner up to seek revenge against two popular kids who have hurt them both in different ways.
The best thing about the book was the poetic language. I paid close attention to all the imagery and the way the book is written elevates the story and made me forget about things that...more
The best thing about the book was the poetic language. I paid close attention to all the imagery and the way the book is written elevates the story and made me forget about things that...more
2 likes · like · see review
This is a hard story, beautifully told. I love the internal nature of the book. The way it looks at the two protagonists inner lives, following without judgement their thoughts and feelings, forcing the reader to see through and beyond arresting appearances. I think it is interesting that both characters are in many ways crippled by the judgements constantly made on them because of their exterior and yet they also choose to hide behind their physical appearances. As much as it is a book of looki...more
3.5 out of 5 stars
This is definitely one of the most poetic books that I’ve ever read, and I’m not just saying that because much of the plot revolves around poetry. The descriptions are fantastic, and I think George did a fantastic job of describing high school – particularly being an obese girl in high school. Meghan is super aware of everything that is going on around her. She knows things about everyone because they stuff in front of her like she’s not even there, like she doesn’t speak the l...more
This is definitely one of the most poetic books that I’ve ever read, and I’m not just saying that because much of the plot revolves around poetry. The descriptions are fantastic, and I think George did a fantastic job of describing high school – particularly being an obese girl in high school. Meghan is super aware of everything that is going on around her. She knows things about everyone because they stuff in front of her like she’s not even there, like she doesn’t speak the l...more
Meghan Ball is invisible. But she knows everyone's secrets. As the fattest girl in the school, she wades through the hall with her eyes peeled wide open but no one acknowledges her, no one talks to her. But Meghan sees everything. On the first day of the school year when she sets her eyes on the extremely thin new girl, Aimee Zorn, Meghan knows in her mind that she's found a best friend. But when the popular yet deceptive Cara threatens to snatch Aimee into her clutches, Meghan knows she must fi...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Wow. I don't even know where to begin, but this novel was fantastic. Meghan is an outcast, and I really felt her pain. I thought this novel was so true to the horrors of high school, because let's face it, people can be harsh. Whenever J-Bar bullied her, I could see it happening. This novel dives deeply into a lot of issues like anorexia, obesity, betrayal, bullying, isolation, invisibility, I could go on. It felt so real to me. This novel really changed the way I look at some people, and I'm so...more
Oct 01, 2009
Rebecca
added it
I loved reading Looks.
The first thing that drew me to the book was the cover, I just thought that the cover looked really interesting.
Looks goes a lot deeper than just a good cover however.
For starters the descriptions that Madeleine George provides within her book are amazing. They are almost poetic-like and magical.
The characters were all really well developed too. I really loved Meghan and Aimee which was obviously the desired affect from the author. I didn't like Cara but she was a well-deve...more
The first thing that drew me to the book was the cover, I just thought that the cover looked really interesting.
Looks goes a lot deeper than just a good cover however.
For starters the descriptions that Madeleine George provides within her book are amazing. They are almost poetic-like and magical.
The characters were all really well developed too. I really loved Meghan and Aimee which was obviously the desired affect from the author. I didn't like Cara but she was a well-deve...more
Jun 20, 2011
E DB
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to E by:
YALSA / ALA
Shelves:
ya-novels
If this book were a teen movie it would have received a high rating and been placed alongside Heathers for its nihilistic tone, humour, and uncomfortably accurate portrayals of the "ethically complicated" social lives of teenagers. The poems in this book – the one that's supposed to be really good, at least – is actually pretty impressive (especially when one considers that it's supposed to have been written by a 14-year-old!).
Looks is fast-paced and raw and a little mean, with a lovely dreamy...more
Looks is fast-paced and raw and a little mean, with a lovely dreamy...more
Meghan and Aimee look as different as possible - Meghan is a girl so big she has a hard time getting in and out of certain desks at school, and Aimee is so small that you might think a gust of wind would blow her away. But they do have one thing in common: both of these girls use food as a crutch to get through their hard times. Meghan sees everything in school, even if, despite her size, she is all but invisible to the student body. She sees that Aimee, new in school, is getting involved with a...more
Meghan Ball feels invisible, despite her massive size and cruel jokes played on her. But when Meghan observes and then befriends anorexic Aimee, they discover a kindred spirit in each other and gather the strenth to get revenge against all those who were cruel to them. While the plot is your basic underdog story in a middle/high school setting, the character depth and writing make this book stand out from the average. The description of Meghan being both invisible and incredibly visible at the s...more
Skinny girl writes about Fat girl
'the fat girl grinds through the crowd
a monstrous machine
draped under the wide blue tarp of her windbreaker
hidden behind her quivering curtain of hair
she has thighs like a sofa
hands like hams
eyes like a dead fish's eyes
she is the garbage girl
everything she ever ate is still inside her
and they can smell it on her
rotting...
...they circle her.
swirling and cawing
moments seagulls flying over a landfill
scavenging for bits of her flesh
as they swoop it to pluck out her d...more
'the fat girl grinds through the crowd
a monstrous machine
draped under the wide blue tarp of her windbreaker
hidden behind her quivering curtain of hair
she has thighs like a sofa
hands like hams
eyes like a dead fish's eyes
she is the garbage girl
everything she ever ate is still inside her
and they can smell it on her
rotting...
...they circle her.
swirling and cawing
moments seagulls flying over a landfill
scavenging for bits of her flesh
as they swoop it to pluck out her d...more
Looks is the story of two girls, one who overeats and one who doesn't eat enough, and how they enter a new phase of their lives together. I love how the title works on so many levels - how their physical looks stand out, the perceived importance of using how we look to fit in, disapproving and disgusted looks the girls get from other people, looks exchanged between two outsiders, a shared look filled with secret history. I also love how Madeleine captures the degrading qualities of high school s...more
Jun 30, 2009
Kristy
added it
I couldn't finish this book because I just didn't have it in me to go to the dark places teen novels so often take you these days. The story centers on a two girls: one extremely overweight and one terribly anorexic, who use food in similiar ways to express themselves. They navigate the deadly halls of high school and team up together to get revenge on those who have wronged them. This, as far as I could tell from the 50 or so pages I read, is the basic plot.
I just. couldn't. do . it.
On one ha...more
I just. couldn't. do . it.
On one ha...more
Wow!
I gave a five-star rating to a book that left me dazed and slightly hollow. Incredibly poetic and beautiful.
An anorexic girl/a humongous girl ("made of mud and cellulite" --my now favorite descriptive phrase).
A moment for revenge.
High school.
It could have been a hugely cliched story--but altering voices and the writer's chosen wording kept it from becoming that.
I gave a five-star rating to a book that left me dazed and slightly hollow. Incredibly poetic and beautiful.
An anorexic girl/a humongous girl ("made of mud and cellulite" --my now favorite descriptive phrase).
A moment for revenge.
High school.
It could have been a hugely cliched story--but altering voices and the writer's chosen wording kept it from becoming that.
Meghan Ball is the biggest girl in her grade, and is treated almost invisible. Anyone says anything in front of her, like who is dating who, who got arrested at the party last weekend, anything. But when she notices Aimee Zorn, she can't help but notice that even though they are opposites in physical features, they are exactly the same emotionally, and both are very lonely. But when the Queen Bee sets her sights Aimee, Meghan can't help but try to team up with Aimee to stop the Queen Bee before...more
I would recommend "Looks" to anyone who's having problems with their self-esteem. Looks is based on an anorexic new girl and an overweight student, that now go to the same school. The anorexic girl, Aimee. has one thing in common with the overweight student, Meghan, and that is their both lonely. Meghan had the same routine everyday, and she would do anything to get away from it all, and Aimee had no friends, and felt like she didn't belong. Once Meghan laid her eyes on Aimee she knew there was...more
This phenomenal novel Looks by Madeleine George is about a student in school being judged because of how they look. Meghan Ball who is the main character has been bullied and made fun of from her surroundings because of her obesity. The whole school cannot ignore her because of her size. She is the biggest girl in school and no one is willing to stop making fun of her weight. People continuously throw their secrets about her right in front of her like it’s no big deal. But now, she has turned in...more
Meghan is an obese girl who is nearly invisible to everyone in school. Aimee is becoming invisible with her own eating disorder, she's convinced herself that she's allergic to everything and is becoming anorexic because she won't eat anything.
Meghan notices Aimee when they both are in the nurse's office together. Aimee is completely put off by Meghan's obesity and goes so far as to write a poem about how hideous she thinks Meghan is.
When Aimee is befriended by the literary magazine's editor, w...more
Meghan notices Aimee when they both are in the nurse's office together. Aimee is completely put off by Meghan's obesity and goes so far as to write a poem about how hideous she thinks Meghan is.
When Aimee is befriended by the literary magazine's editor, w...more
Meghan is a fat, awkward, and shy high schooler. Teachers and other students don't notice her because of her bulk, which renders her almost invisible. While she doesn't fit in, she can overhear private conversations and steal hall passes with impunity. Aimee is a new girl with anorexia, who writes poetry and looks to make friends with the head of the school's literary society group.
Both Meghan and Aimee are invisible in the world of their school, and the story follows their eventual reliance on...more
Both Meghan and Aimee are invisible in the world of their school, and the story follows their eventual reliance on...more
I am not sure what made me dislike this book so much.
There were aspects of it that I did like. The descriptions and I felt that the author did a good job making me feel sick to my stomach when something awful happened to one of the characters but in the end I felt more depressed than any other emotion. I don't think I actually got anything from the book but a gloomy headache. Which I guess is good because a book is not supposed to make me feel comfortable with eating disorders I should not be c...more
There were aspects of it that I did like. The descriptions and I felt that the author did a good job making me feel sick to my stomach when something awful happened to one of the characters but in the end I felt more depressed than any other emotion. I don't think I actually got anything from the book but a gloomy headache. Which I guess is good because a book is not supposed to make me feel comfortable with eating disorders I should not be c...more
1 like · like · see review
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
If you're looking for a decent cliche of a book. Here. Read this.
Meghan is your a-typical high school fatty, never to be seen unless she's being bullied. She takes the bullying in silence, has no friends, and is a perfect student. Aimee makes the story a bit more interesting with her poetry breaking the reader from the authors average writing every now and than. Not only is the book cliche, it's overly predictable. By chapter 8 I already knew what was going to happen, and my prediction made me l...more
Meghan is your a-typical high school fatty, never to be seen unless she's being bullied. She takes the bullying in silence, has no friends, and is a perfect student. Aimee makes the story a bit more interesting with her poetry breaking the reader from the authors average writing every now and than. Not only is the book cliche, it's overly predictable. By chapter 8 I already knew what was going to happen, and my prediction made me l...more
Meghan Ball is, to put it bluntly, fat. After a betrayal by a close friend at the start of junior high because of it, she starts to observe people rather than socialize with them. One of these people is possibly-anorexic Aimee Zorn. Her dysfunctional family life leads her to start writing poetry, and she soon joins a literary collective led by the very girl who betrayed Meghan: Cara. Meghan stops at nothing to make sure Aimee never has to suffer at her hands.
It's been a little over two years si...more
It's been a little over two years si...more
I read this book in preparation to write a review of George's newest novel.
What I found was an interesting novel centering on two female characters, each with their own personal hell: one who is obese (although nowhere in the book is her exact weight given; and one is who is anorexic, but truly believes she is not. George chronicles their individual lives through a semester at high school, examining in detail each girl's need for peer, and family acceptance. Even more powerful are the poems, ins...more
What I found was an interesting novel centering on two female characters, each with their own personal hell: one who is obese (although nowhere in the book is her exact weight given; and one is who is anorexic, but truly believes she is not. George chronicles their individual lives through a semester at high school, examining in detail each girl's need for peer, and family acceptance. Even more powerful are the poems, ins...more
Lush, flowery language runs all throughout this story, though I wouldn't describe all of the subject matter as "flowery", as this book definitely deals with some heavy-hitter adolescent issues.
It was refreshing to read a book told in 3rd person perspective, as so many YA books, (and, really, new fiction in general), are all told via 1st person. The sometimes omniscient / sometimes tight-lipped narrator adds to both character development and the reader's own introspection into the story, without...more
It was refreshing to read a book told in 3rd person perspective, as so many YA books, (and, really, new fiction in general), are all told via 1st person. The sometimes omniscient / sometimes tight-lipped narrator adds to both character development and the reader's own introspection into the story, without...more
good book about two outcast one a massively overweight girl who nobody pays attention to at school except the boys her bully her. the other is a girl who has been come anorexic becasue she cant deal with the fact that her stepfather left her mother. the first half of the book has the girls being separate with their paths sometimes crossing. but eventually the make friends with each other too get revenge on a girl who did something bad to booth of them. i liked the book both the characters of Meg...more
Madeleine George is a brilliant writer. This book is beautifully written, but it is also such a completely accurate look at high school life -- at least the bad parts. Her writing is so completely on-target that I found it surprising that she's an adult and not still in the realm of teenagers. This story is fascinating from the perspective of teenage girls with eating disorders -- without getting too graphic -- and also as it deals with relationships and social hierarchy. Completely readable, re...more
This is relevant to those who complain/criticizes there outer looks. This takes place in Valley Regional High. Where two girls named Aimee & Meghan are complete opposites. I say this because Aimee is seen as the very skinny girl who is underweight. While Meghan is seen as the fat girl who is overweight. Something they have in common is that they are no where near to being popular. Bullying is outrageous. They try to find something that makes them look beyond their outer looks. So they ten to...more
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“It's not an honest face. It's not a kind face. It's a face made of anger and secrets and lies. From the tight, guarded mouth to the clenched, square jaw to the glossy shimmer of I-dare-you that coats the surface of her eyes, Aimee's face is a scary place for Meghan's gaze to rest. But beneath the gloss, behind the sharpness and tension, deep at Aimee's core, Meghan can see something warm and real. It's the same unnameable thing she saw in the sickroom on the first day of school. It's the same thing she feels pulsing softly deep in her own chest.”
—
4 people liked it
“I am carved like David,
every line of my body perfectly chiseled.
Hunger is the blade that has made me smooth.
I am a statue, yet I am only air at my center.
I go to hug myself and
-poof!-
my arms go right through me
finding nothing to hold on to.
My hands meet behind my own back
in a stone handshake.
This is not what you were expecting.
I'm so cold.
I'm so sharp.
I've been cut, now I'll cut you.
Come closer.
Yes, come closer to me.
I am going to make you see what I see.”
—
4 people liked it
More quotes…
every line of my body perfectly chiseled.
Hunger is the blade that has made me smooth.
I am a statue, yet I am only air at my center.
I go to hug myself and
-poof!-
my arms go right through me
finding nothing to hold on to.
My hands meet behind my own back
in a stone handshake.
This is not what you were expecting.
I'm so cold.
I'm so sharp.
I've been cut, now I'll cut you.
Come closer.
Yes, come closer to me.
I am going to make you see what I see.”
