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Skinny

3.38 of 5 stars 3.38 · rating details · 2,758 ratings · 315 reviews

Do you ever get hungry? Too hungry to eat?

Holly's older sister, Giselle, is self-destructing. Haunted by her love-deprived relationship with her late father, this once strong role model and medical student, is gripped by anorexia. Holly, a track star, struggles to keep her own life in balance while coping with the mental and physical deterioration of her beloved sister. To...more

Hardcover, 256 pages

Published September 19th 2006 by Walker Childrens (first published April 22nd 2005)

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Oct 29, 2008 Drusilla rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone

Drusilla Ollennu October 28, 2008
English 11, p.2 Independent reading project
S k i n n y

Skinny, by Ibi Kaslik, reveals the conflict of a young adult and her sister struggling with they’re own individual issues that are somehow connected. Giselle and Holly, both sisters, tell their story in their own point of view as it switches back and fourth in every chapter. While the current setting of the book is in Canada, problems erupted on the subject of their parents when they were in Hungary. Gisel...more Drusilla Ollennu October 28, 2008
English 11, p.2 Independent reading project
S k i n n y

Skinny, by Ibi Kaslik, reveals the conflict of a young adult and her sister struggling with they’re own individual issues that are somehow connected. Giselle and Holly, both sisters, tell their story in their own point of view as it switches back and fourth in every chapter. While the current setting of the book is in Canada, problems erupted on the subject of their parents when they were in Hungary. Giselle’s main issues are her struggles with her weight and anorexia as the pessimistic side of her pushes her to the brink of insanity. She also struggles with the rough relationship between her and her father (Thomas) before his death and the story of how her mother (Velsa) cheated on her ex-husband. Holly on the other hand pushes to keep up with her athletic activities in school. She struggles to help Giselle with her chronic illness with anorexia.

What makes this book so good is that we are able to read from both Giselle and Holly’s point of view. This makes things interesting because you’re never too sure about what someone is thinking so it’s somewhat of a surprise every time. Readers also get to read the struggles of both characters and how they feel about each other’s problems. One reason others should read Skinny is because they can understand the deeper things people have to live with, even though it does not appear that way on the outside. Secondly, others should read Skinny because they may be able to relate to issues that the characters are going through. Someone may feel negatively about their weight and be comforted that Giselle also has that problem and she fought to overcome it. Others may have some sort of disability and feel a little better that Holly was capable of managing a normal life despite the fact that she was half deaf.

People who would mostly enjoy this book are young teenagers and college students. Holly is a young teenager and Giselle is a college student. Both characters are enduring many of the issues that occur commonly at their age. Other kinds of people who would enjoy reading this book are those who can actually relate to it. They don’t have to relate to the issues of anorexia or being deaf in one ear. They can just as easily relate to having immigrant parents, following their career, or having difficulties finding the truth about their parent’s past. Other people that may enjoy reading Skinny are those who like to step out of their comfort zone. People who wouldn’t mind putting themselves into the shoes of others that have different situations than their own would really appreciate Skinny. I honestly recommend this book for people to read because it applies to a wide range of people. Skinny keeps your interest through out the entire book and brings you into an unfamiliar, yet fascinating world.
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Dec 23, 2008 K8e rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't know if this book is for "young adults"

There are a lot of disturbing passages in the book. The main character, Giselle, has somewhat of a split-personality in which the crazy version of herself taunts her repeatedly to be thin.

The sister undergoes a lot of issues because of Giselle's eating disorder. All in all, it's interesting, not really for all teens and has some haunting insights into the world of eating disorders and how it affects everyone.

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Jan 13, 2013 Tassi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Skinny by Ibi Kaslik is honestly one of my favourite books in the entire world. I am going to make it clear that This Book DOES NOT promote Eating Disorders!

If you could not tell by the title, Skinny is about Anorexia Nervosa, a mental disorder typically categorized by an obsessive fear of becoming obese.

Kaslik's prose cuts deep. I have had anorexia for almost all of my life and this book was difficult for me to read because it is so in-detail. When I first read this book, I was in a very bad pl...more

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Jan 07, 2013 hamptonenglish10 rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Laura Swain
Mrs. Emmett
Book Review
7 January 2013

Skinny
Holly has an older sister named Giselle who is recently struggling with anorexia, although she is still haunted by the death of her father who had a lack lustered relationship. Holly who is a big track star and has the “ perfect body” , she is struggling to keep her life in her hands well she is watching her sister cope with her problem. Giselle, who was a top A medical student, but really can’t make it to work because of her mental and phys...more

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Jun 21, 2012 Julia rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, kindle

There are merits to this book: one being that you cannot judge a book by its cover. Admittedly I was expecting a more shallow tale, judging by the cover and title. However the book deals with much heavier themes making me wonder if young adult is even the appropriate genre for this book, and would make me consider a different title even. It is also about the disability and coming of age of Giselle's younger sister, immigration, father issues, reconciling parents failures, and has some pretty int...more

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Dec 17, 2011 Christina (Reading Thru The Night) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, ya-love

Giselle is an early twenty something med student who has a nervous breakdown. Unable to deal with the grief of losing an unloving father, the powerful voice of self-loathing convinces her to starve.

Holly, her younger sister and athlete, not only struggles with watching her older sister slowly die in front of her, but is often asked questions about their father who obviously loved her more.

This story is told in alternating voices: Giselle's voice is filled with longing, hatred, and devastation; H...more Giselle is an early twenty something med student who has a nervous breakdown. Unable to deal with the grief of losing an unloving father, the powerful voice of self-loathing convinces her to starve.

Holly, her younger sister and athlete, not only struggles with watching her older sister slowly die in front of her, but is often asked questions about their father who obviously loved her more.

This story is told in alternating voices: Giselle's voice is filled with longing, hatred, and devastation; Holly's voice is filled with anger, frustration, the desire to have and live her own life, and dealing with normal adolescent troubles.

This is Canadian author Kaslik's first novel, and her writing is often harsh and powerful:

"He started the whole mess with those ice-blue eyes that kept me begging for my right to exist. Holly doesn't know what it's like to love someone who doesn't care whether you life or die. She doesn't yet realize that love unreturned eventually transforms into a fierce tangled mess, nerves and entrails exposed like split animal innards. She doesn't understand that sometimes the unrequited must demand reparations, that love can be a mean and spiteful process, that sometimes one loses patience with love. So, when the nerves and guts have seemingly been packed away, sewn in and cleaned up so as not to make all the innocent bystanders uncomfortable, the carrier of this love becomes heavy with toxic lump that grows, slowly, and steadily, into a fierce ball of scarred tissue."

I love the raw imagery she uses her. Anyone who has ever loved someone who has not loved them knows the inner turmoil of that experience - it's searing, gut-wrenching, and convulsive. And then to imagine that unreturned love coming from a parent only magnifies the pain.

This is the writing that pulled me in. Unfortunately, at times, the voice was distant and non-linear which added a bit of confusion. Plus, I'm not a big fan of the multiple voices convention.

I could really appreciate where Holly was coming from a lot more than Giselle. I don't know what it was about her (and this will probably make me sound like a horrible person) but I really wanted to just shout, "for chrissake's will you just die already?". I know, I know. I really am a good person, and do not under-empathize the destructive hell that ensues when an eating disorder enters someone's world. I just didn't feel as though that self-destructive voice was nearly as authentic as, say, Anderson's portrayal in Wintergirls. And so, having Wintergirls still fresh in my mind (even though it was nearly six months away, the book was that powerful), I have trouble comparing other anorexic voices to Lia's (the main character).

I do hope that Kaslik writes more novels. Overall, this was a great first publication. (less)

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Sep 23, 2011 Demitassedream rated it 4 of 5 stars

The writing is punctuated with metaphors which are sometimes poetic, sometimes long winded, sometimes brutal. A fan of Dostoevsky's twin themes will enjoy this book. The writer integrates the beauty and ugliness of life (placing a beautiful sunset and a child bleeding from a head wound side by side, for example), in parallel to the two personas that battle inside Giselle. In addition, the story is alternatively narrated by Giselle and her sister Holly, providing two distinct perspectives and two...more

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Aug 05, 2011 Elaine rated it 5 of 5 stars

Skinny is sad in a subtly haunting way. The passages from the medical-school guide really emphasized Giselle's mortality and complemented her muted, though persistent, voice. *SPOILERS* I commend the author for her willingness to experiment with character death, because I've always felt that too many eating disorder novels end with la-di-da, Disney-ending recovery or even "life is not perfect, but I'm getting there day by day" recovery. Statistics say that eating disorders this serious rarely en...more

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May 26, 2011 Jasmine Diaz rated it 3 of 5 stars

The main character is Giselle she has to problems one is she is a compulsive studier and to she is anerexic. She first decided she was fat and discusting when she first did drugs after dat she keepd hearing voices in her head telling her she is gross and to starve herself. She went to a clinic for a while until she started to gain weight and eat more. When she got out she ate alot. Her sister Holly is nothing like Giselle she is very healthy and athletic as well but they both have one thing in c...more The main character is Giselle she has to problems one is she is a compulsive studier and to she is anerexic. She first decided she was fat and discusting when she first did drugs after dat she keepd hearing voices in her head telling her she is gross and to starve herself. She went to a clinic for a while until she started to gain weight and eat more. When she got out she ate alot. Her sister Holly is nothing like Giselle she is very healthy and athletic as well but they both have one thing in common there dad did when they were both young. Giselle found out that her mom had an affair with her dad when she was engaged to a guy named adam when she had found her dads old hidin journal. Her mom became pregnant and Adam became sick he had leporzy he ended up drowi\ning himself in the lake and Gisells dad got married with her mom. After she comfronted her mom to find out the truth she became depressed because not only did her dad die but she found out that the other guy that might have been her real dad had died as well. Holly would always running that was her way to cope with the stress of losing her dad. One day when Giselle got home she found her boyfriend kissing her sister. They broke up and thats when she began to starve herself again. She had thought she had gotten her period and felt very sick so she stayed in bed her sister found her sister laying down in a pile of her blood. Holly and her mom took her to the hospital there they found out that there was somthing wrong with her uterus and needed an operation. Afterward Giselles hair started to fall out because she was still not eating she wanted a cheesburger so she left the hospital without any of the nurses or her mom knowing. She got her handburger climbed a fire escape and went on a roof and puked. It started to rain so she was wet. Holly and her ex boyfriend found her holding a blanket and laying down on the pavement. They returned her to the hospital to then find out it was to late the air and the cold poisend her blood supply and she died weighing 76pounds at the age of 22(less)

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Jul 08, 2010 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, fiction, reviewed-for-slj, young-adult-fiction

From November 2006 SLJ
In her first year of med school, twenty-two-year-old Giselle Vasco seems to have it all together. But a lifetime of bitter relations with her deceased father is slowly catching up, and she falls into a downward spiral that her mother and her younger sister Holly are powerless to stop. Skinny, though, is much more than a study of one young woman’s battle with anorexia. What starts as the story of Giselle quickly develops into a rich and powerful tapestry of a whole family. W...more

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Mar 16, 2010 Lauren rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: girls who are in 8th or 9th grade

Recommended to Lauren by: my friend

Shelves: grade-8-ir-books-rick-f-t

The book Skinny By Ibi Kaslik is a book about a girl named gizzel who becomes an anorexic. Her father dies at the begaining of the book and she was tormented by him calling or showng her that she was big boned. So soon she begain to stop eating and then became an anorexic. The book starts out with her geting out of rehab and the mental hospital for anorexia. The book talks about how she felt coming out of anorexia felt, and how she overcame it, with haveing a new relationship and having the rest...more

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Feb 14, 2010 Jamaica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-lit

Raw & real-down to to the bare bone~

Skinny is a read that encompasses the same story told through two-different sets of eyes: one from Giselle (a 21-year old former-med student whose life spirals out of control with an anorexia problem) and her younger sister Holly (16-17ish)who is strong emotionally and physically. Giselle's the smart one, and fairly pretty...maybe, and Holly is the tom-boy: competitive, gorgeous, and fun, with a strong-head on her shoulders; she was always daddy's favorite...more Raw & real-down to to the bare bone~

Skinny is a read that encompasses the same story told through two-different sets of eyes: one from Giselle (a 21-year old former-med student whose life spirals out of control with an anorexia problem) and her younger sister Holly (16-17ish)who is strong emotionally and physically. Giselle's the smart one, and fairly pretty...maybe, and Holly is the tom-boy: competitive, gorgeous, and fun, with a strong-head on her shoulders; she was always daddy's favorite.

Their views as sisters clash, and Giselle's problem is one that she realizes isn't her own as it affects her entire family. It's a struggle for Giselle for her own life, but also a life amongst her family, her memories, her past, her present, and her future.

It's a riveting tale, full of emotion, heartache, suspense, suprise...and more. Knowing quite a few girls facing this problem, I couldn't put down the read because of how real it felt, as if the book ran-back through those times where I had to help those girls through...and at a point where I had to tell those girls that it was their realization, and that it was their responsibility to face this...and that I'd be there to help, but I wouldn't be there to carry them. Holly tells the same thing to her sister.

I'm esctatic that Kaslik (the author) writes the persepctive from an older 'woman' -assuming since this problem is more common amongst teenagers, its refershing how she presents the reality from a 21-year old college student--who aspired to be a surgeon. Because of the age, there are some rather graphic moments of Giselle's story, and Holly's, but life is life; I didn't have a problem with it, but I know that this reading for YA could be a possible problem.

Perhaps the most rivetting effect that this read has had on me is the psyche of Giselle as she is facing this beast-this monster-this problem... we see her insanity... and what she tells herself because of this problem, and what she believes... Its that voice,against her own voice, against her sister's and her mother's... It's nothing short of compelling... it gave me goosebumps even.

I really can't say much on this read aside from the fact that I loved it, and I think girls should read it--guys too.

*The only reason I gave it four stars was because it's a bit hard to understand at first...and a few other parts, but once you figure it out, it's solid. Overall, great read, but one that should be approached with caution when recommending... I'd recommend it quite often, but again, there are people that need to be taken to consideration when assigning this to like a YA or someone of that nature... again, I dont mind a little 'stir of the norm' -- aka reality check, but eh...I'm going to be a teacher and have to be aware of these oppositions @_@ ...doesn't mean I can't asterisk that book on a reading list and pass it along 'anonymously' ;P(less)

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Nov 30, 2009 Vinhhong rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

Recommended to Vinhhong by: everyone

The author Lbi Kaslik writes a heart-wrenching story about a girl named Giselle that faces a losing battle with anorexia and blames it on her deceased father who she claims never loved her as much as her sister Holly. The story’s narration switches between both Giselle and Holly and they both still face with the loss of their father. Giselle, the smart one, the one in medical school struggles with herself and her past unknown relationship with her father while her sister Holly, track star, may s...more

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Sep 16, 2009 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: summer-reading-2009

Skinny is about an anorexic woman who is twenty-one years old and her sister, Halley who has to get through Giselle's anoxeria with her mother, suffering as she watches her frail sister die slowly in front of her. Giselle had gone to medical school, hoping to become a doctor and then fell into anorexia painfully. Now, she tries to deal with her mind, fighting for her to stop eating again but her heart saying she must eat- juggling a boy friend and trying to get her life back in shape. Halley's l...more

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Aug 26, 2009 stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, eating-disorders, young-adult

very small interesting differences when you realize that this in set in canada, and that the medical system is different there.

two sisters tell the story - gizelle and holly, daughters of first generation hungarian immigrants. a tale of how people deal with trauma, adolescence and being different, close to everything i know in this strange way. (at one point, gizzy is looking at potatoes and thinking how much better they would be with sour cream and butter - oh, eastern european food!) the alte...more

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May 22, 2009 Vicki rated it 4 of 5 stars

Giselle is a recovering anorexic who comes face to face with her own mortality while getting involved in sordid romantic entanglements. Many readers can relate to Giselle and her body image issues as many young girls strive to reach perfection. The readers become lost in the multiple story lines as they follow Giselle's battle with anorexia, they also become intrigued by hidden family secrets that are revealed. The novel is told not only from the perspective of Giselle, but it is also narrated b...more

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Aug 31, 2012 Emily Dumouchel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, realistic-fiction, mental-health, contemporary, psychology, authors-canadian, cultural-canada

The cover of my possessed book is not the black covered on, it is grandly similar though. In lieu of being black with a lime green popsicle, mine is red, with a pinkish-red popsicle and sincerely; the cover of Skinny is gorgeous in red. I wonder about the change in covers, the direct difference between them. One is black and the other red. I personally put black with despair and death and red with anger and passion -love too because love without a bit of passion becomes a bit bland for me!-. Whi...more The cover of my possessed book is not the black covered on, it is grandly similar though. In lieu of being black with a lime green popsicle, mine is red, with a pinkish-red popsicle and sincerely; the cover of Skinny is gorgeous in red. I wonder about the change in covers, the direct difference between them. One is black and the other red. I personally put black with despair and death and red with anger and passion -love too because love without a bit of passion becomes a bit bland for me!-. Which describes the book in itself, from beginning to end.

About a woman -22 years of age- who is a functioning anorexic until she isn’t anymore. It’s an interesting concept, because as much as you cannot say I was an anorexic/bulimic, I had tendencies of a bulimic, so this came a bit close to home, but not the type of closeness some people hate... This was a closeness that made me think that it isn’t a good idea, that as much as I was functioning, I was not me... Absolutely not, eating disorders change your DNA in a sense, your mental DNA. You don’t live your life the same way as before you have your episodes and you have to fight it for a long-long time -it’s worth it though!

Anyway, this book is about that woman -Giselle- and her sister who runs track. They battle with their obsessions, with their difficulties and with each others. It’s a profound book that makes you reflect, even more so if you are familiar to those difficulties. I wouldn’t recommended it to anyone and I would be cautious with people who are easily influenced also those that have lived this and are not at their strongest.

I personally liked the ‘she-devil’ we are introduced to. The anorexia of Giselle who becomes a person of its own, who controls, critics and destroy her without care... Some passage I found intense enough to drop a tear or two. In the later chapters, some events I found harder to accept as is, not because they were poorly written or because I didn’t like them -even if... c;- but because I think after a while you want Giselle to... Grow -not up, just grow- and it was not happening like I wanted too.

Also there is a particular scene with the ‘she-devil’ and Giselle, a little conversation that I found poignant and sad and just evil coming from something imaginary yet something very real, her anorexia tells her a comment about the men in her life and... Oh dear!

I appreciated the remarks from medical book that Giselle had in her chapters. A bit of an avant-goût to what would happen next, what the paragraphs or chapter would talk about until your see another little snippet of doctor talk. That was a really nice touch, I found it lovely, really.

IN conclusion, this book doesn’t get a five stars because there were some small things I couldn’t like as much as I wished. Of course, it got the next best thing, four and a half star. Very good book, with some humor but not overly so. So if you’re searching for a ‘summer read’, I don’t recommend, by summer read I of course mean those reads you don’t need to think, to analyze, to process what is written but just absorb the beauty of the text. This one, it’s rawer and because of that: oh so good!(less)

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Feb 13, 2011 Katie rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: whiny teenagers

Shelves: sad-relationship-with-food, own

Have you ever seen a reflection of yourself and fought to recognize the person staring back at you? Have you ever let yourself slip so far into the darkness that you thought there would be no way for you to propel yourself out? The inability to function, to care, what brings a person back from that?

This book isn't all rainbows and sunshine. I respect it for that. The story of Giselle's anorexia wasn't necessarily familiar to me, and at first I struggled to see any reality in it. It must be so sw...more Have you ever seen a reflection of yourself and fought to recognize the person staring back at you? Have you ever let yourself slip so far into the darkness that you thought there would be no way for you to propel yourself out? The inability to function, to care, what brings a person back from that?

This book isn't all rainbows and sunshine. I respect it for that. The story of Giselle's anorexia wasn't necessarily familiar to me, and at first I struggled to see any reality in it. It must be so sweet to have a single persistent voice telling you to self-destruct, to be miserable. It seems so easy. A nice little answer wrapped up in a black tulle bow. I wished Giselle were more complex. I wish her problems went deeper, there was more mystery and depth to her character. Yet still, there was such a dark, intense beauty about this book.

There is one moment toward the end where Holly looks at Giselle and has a realization: "Then I remember how Giselle is one of those people who can't wait for things to be over, even fun things, like concerts, or camping. I'm afraid she might just tear through her life without ever enjoying anything, except this, except pain. Still, Giselle's misery is terrible and beautiful, like stained white cotton dresses."

To go through life and experience and almost enjoy pain...THAT registers to me as a passage speaking of genuine experience. Clearly, there are many who won't connect to this passage the way I did. For others this isn't anything. It will mean nothing to finally recognize a different kind of pain, of misery and living. The image of stained white cotton dresses...

In one section where Giselle is narrating the reader is finally shown a clear view of just how far Giselle has slipped into the darkness. She is so far gone that it takes looking into the eyes of a stranger, beaten by life to recognize who she has become. "The dyed-blond, who could be ten years older or younger than me, doesn't seem to notice how freaky I look. Like me, she's sort of a she-male..." "And, for the first time in weeks, someone looks into my face, not afraid of what they'll see."

This book was really quite depressing, but it isn't too heavy. Anorexia will eat away at a person but if in the end there is peace, then isn't that what truly matters?!? I am appreciative for the lack of a happy ending. What is real is that sometimes our dark impulses really do drive us to a deep dark grave. And, maybe it is good for a bunch of whiny adolescents to read a book about the reality of things every once and a while.

On that note...I shall quiet myself.

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Sep 28, 2011 Lacey added it

First thoughts:

Hmmm, I had picked this book up to give it a try, hadn't really read much on it but when reading the summary it piped my interest. And from the very first page I was sucked into a world where I could barely breathe. The authors attention to detail really opened up a new way to connect the character of the book with the reader. The writing was very poetic and deep, something that I loved a lot. There were some weak spots, spots I wished could haven been different but in all honesty...more First thoughts:

Hmmm, I had picked this book up to give it a try, hadn't really read much on it but when reading the summary it piped my interest. And from the very first page I was sucked into a world where I could barely breathe. The authors attention to detail really opened up a new way to connect the character of the book with the reader. The writing was very poetic and deep, something that I loved a lot. There were some weak spots, spots I wished could haven been different but in all honesty I'd have to be the character to do that. It was indeed a really emotional and heart constricting read.

Summary:

This story takes place between two girls, each chapter alternates the point of view. The first view of Giselle who is a med student and has an eating disorder and the second being from her sister Holly who is having a hard time dealing with her sisters problem.

Between the two you are being taken into their world where they lost their father, the same father who hated Giselle and loved Holly. Being mistreated by her father Giselle couldn't do anything but become a total wreck, she had to grasp onto something she could control and that happened to be her eating habits. She thinks her sister has the perfect body and hers being a bloated mess. She's always envied her sister. So she has this double side to her, the other half that's telling her to stop eating, to look in the mirror and see how ugly she is. Giselle can't do anything but listen.

Soon after being released from the hospital for her disorder her life gets even worse, she still doesn't eat, her family is falling apart and she feels she's losing anyone she ever thought loved her. And Holly is being trampled along the way, she used to look up to her sister but now she has to be the one in charge. Can the two of them get their lives untwisted before its too late?

Last thoughts:

A very deep and serious read. Not really a book for young readers but for those who think wrongly of themselves and think that no one could ever possibly love them. I loved the twisted double edge sword concept in this book and will never forget that last image in the book. Not everything can end well, not every book has a happily ever after. Kaslik is a very talented author and I can't wait to see some other books she's come out with.(less)

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May 19, 2011 V.E. rated it 2 of 5 stars

The writing was okay but my main problem with the book was that I couldn't really get a clear picture of anything. There was always this sense of detachment between the characters and their story from the outside world. It's hard to place their lives in the context of the rest of the world, and for a long time I didn't even know where they were. I don't know what they looked like, and I seriously can't picture much of anything. Some scenes also seemed like they were included just for angst - the...more

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Oct 05, 2010 Wanda rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book is about a young woman who is destroying herself while those around her are helpless to stop and can only watch her slide into oblivion. The narration alternates, between Giselle, the anorexic older sister, and Holly, the better compensated (albeit still disturbed) older sister. Within the narrative that is Giselle’s, she carries on a dialogue with her inner demon – which presumably is her disease. With respect to an accurate portrait of anorexia nervosa as an obsessive condition, this...more This book is about a young woman who is destroying herself while those around her are helpless to stop and can only watch her slide into oblivion. The narration alternates, between Giselle, the anorexic older sister, and Holly, the better compensated (albeit still disturbed) older sister. Within the narrative that is Giselle’s, she carries on a dialogue with her inner demon – which presumably is her disease. With respect to an accurate portrait of anorexia nervosa as an obsessive condition, this is spot on.
Giselle blames her anorexia on her late father whom she claims never loved her the way that he loved her sister and she spends much of the book exploring the ostensible reasons for her perception. Spoiler alert – apparently the reason for his lack of feeling for her is that he believes that she is another man’s child. Parenthetically, I did think that there was far too much emphasis on blaming family for the genesis of this eating disorder. Although family dynamics are not optimal in these families, they are not the CAUSE of the disorder. Kaslik falls into the trap of too many pop-psychology types – i.e. that your family is the cause of your dysfunction.
This is where this author gets in over her head and feeds us a weird tale of a physician who should have known better, subjecting his daughter to repeated EEGs searching for clues to her parentage. Evidently the suspected father suffered from epilepsy. Now there are a few things wrong with this scenario. First, any physician should know that EEGs are not necessarily diagnostic of epilepsy; second, only a small fraction of epilepsies are hereditary; third, the child never had a seizure for goodness sakes.
I think the author wanted to somehow gross her audience out with visions of electrodes and a strange looking apparatus resembling (perhaps?) an ECT device. Who know, but the issue is that she could have used something other than epilepsy as a way to question and establish paternity. It just does not work.
This is a dark, often difficult to read book. It contains an awful lot of inner and outer dialogue that sometimes tends to tangent and rambling – as does real self-talk and conversation. I found it to be far above the level of Young Adult – for which it was designated. A non-young adult would have trouble with this book – it is not easy reading, nor for the fainthearted.
(less)

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Oct 15, 2012 Rachel Stutts rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The book "Skinny" by Ibi Kaslik is the most interesting book I have ever read. When you pick up the book off of a shelf and read the summary on the back you have no clue what you are getting yourself into. The book seems like it has two different books within itself. With the book being told from two girls' perspectives, in my opinion, it is confusing to understand. However, I love the way it has mini definitions and facts within the chapters to help you understand what they are talking about me...more

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Sep 29, 2009 Allisonhester rated it 5 of 5 stars

"Unflinching and raw, this story of two sisters is powered by a frenetic energy that can't be ignored. Swapping medical school for an eating-disorder clinic wasn't 22-year-old Giselle's plan, and her 14-year-old sister Holly didn't see it coming either. Reading chapters that alternate between their distinct and sometimes startlingly aware voices, readers will be intimately imbedded in each sister's ...
More mind as they each deal with Giselle's disorder and the complicated family issues that the...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Shelley Daugherty rated it 5 of 5 stars

A very powerful book about living with an eating disorder. This story is told from two points of view. One is the girl with the disorder, Giselle, and the other is her younger sister Holly. Though you would think that a very promising med students couldn't be affected by something like an eating disorder, Giselle finds herself dealing with a voice she hears inside her head which has talked her into becoming skinny. Medically she knows everything she should be doing but her inner demon keeps taun...more

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Oct 23, 2012 Clair F rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 40-book-challenge

I just finished reading Skinny by Ibi Kaslik. It`s about a teenage girl, Gizelle Vasco, and how she battles her demons inside. Gizelle develops anorexia and is in a struggle between life and death. Her sister and mother try their best to help, but it`s something Gizelle has to accomplish on her own, only she can stop the voices, only she can save herself. Not only does she have to fight for her life, Gizelle struggles to unravel the truth about her father, why he hated her so much. A book defini...more

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Feb 02, 2010 Aly rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book was very raw and realistic and sad. We get to see this story through two different points of views, and at first I wasn’t sure how to feel about this but in the end I found it interesting to see the illness from Holly’s point of view.

Giselle is an incredibly intelligent med student who suffers from anorexia, as you read along you start to see that it seems that she also suffers from Dissociative identity disorder(multiple personality) one part of her wants to be healthy, understands th...more This book was very raw and realistic and sad. We get to see this story through two different points of views, and at first I wasn’t sure how to feel about this but in the end I found it interesting to see the illness from Holly’s point of view.

Giselle is an incredibly intelligent med student who suffers from anorexia, as you read along you start to see that it seems that she also suffers from Dissociative identity disorder(multiple personality) one part of her wants to be healthy, understands that she is very sick and that she could be very well be killing herself. Then there is the part of her that eggs on the starvation or the purging, it’s as if she has these two halves of herself battling for dominance in her mind and the half that doesn’t want her to eat always wins.

We also get to see the poor relationship she had with her father whom she blames for her self-destructive behavior and the sudden news that her mother had an affair, that her father was the other man and that because of this her paternity is in question.

We get to see Holly, the somewhat golden child fourteen year old sister who despite certain adversities is a star athlete, we hear through Holly’s voice how Giselle’s disease affects her and her family.

The writing in this book is brilliant,gorgeous.Ibi Kaslik has got this amazing way with words and that is what I like most about the book, it’s very vivid.

However it is the characters that disappointed me, I felt absolutely and completely detached to the characters by the end of the book. To me the characters were indispensable, easily replaced. You want your readers to either love or hate your characters, the emotional attachment from the reader to your character should be a strong one whether positive or negative.

I also thought that Holly’s inner monologue was much too grown up for her, the heavy prose in her chapters made Holly seem wise beyond her years,it was a bit too much, I find the character could have maybe been more relatable without it.

There seems to be no concept of time within this book either and that bothered me, I have no idea how long it was between the first chapter when Giselle is in the hospital to the last when it’s her funeral. I’ve got no idea how long she dated her boyfriend for nothing.

The last thing was I thought this book brought up too many things that weren’t necessary. I found no point and really didn’t like it at all that Sol(Giselle’s twentysomething year old boyfriend) had a thing for Holly and tried to act on it. I don’t think it did anything for the story, it was unimportant.

While the book itself is very powerful and beautifully written a book needs characters strike out at the reader and they didn't to me.I wanted to love this book but I couldn't.(less)

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Apr 19, 2013 Serenity Huntwork rated it 2 of 5 stars

Skinny was a hard book to rate, I was bouncing between a two and three star. In the beginning, I hated the book. It was boring, all the characters involved were impossible to love or even like because they had no good qualities. The plot was slow to begin, and even when it started it was just BORING.
But then I hit about chapter 18 and it got interesting....then boring again....then interesting again! then boring
then boring
then boring
then interesting, then the end. To be honest, I was satisfied w...more

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Jul 22, 2011 The Reading Countess rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya, realistic-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 23, 2011 Mirkat rated it 3 of 5 stars

Skinny is told, in alternating chapters, through the first-person, present-tense narration of two sisters, 22-year-old medical student Giselle and her sister, 14-year-old Holly. Giselle is poised to complete her first year in medical school but ends up hospitalized for anorexia. Their parents immigrated from Hungary to Canada in the 1970s, and their father Thomas, a physician, died of a heart attack years before. The girls never had any doubt who was their favorite--he always doted on Holly whil...more

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Oct 30, 2009 Rebecca added it

Skinny is a very serious and sad novel.

At first I was a little confused by what was going on because I couldn't tell which parts were flash backs but eventually I got there and understood the plot really well.

The two main characters Giselle and Holly, were both really well written characters and from the descriptions of Ibi Kaslik I felt as though I was there with the two girls.

I really liked that the book was written from both Holly's and Giselle's perspectives because it really helped develop...more

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About Ibi Kaslik

Ibi Kaslik is an internationally published novelist and freelance writer. Her recent novel, The Angel Riots, is a critically acclaimed rock n’ roll comic-tragedy and was nominated for Ontario’s Trillium award (2009). Her first novel, Skinny, was a New York Times Bestseller and has been published in numerous countries. Ibi teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing...more

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Quotes from Skinny

“Love is not popular. Not noble. . . not love, no reward. Trust love. Is not love. Trust yourself.” — 22 people liked it

“You can never get to a person's mind. You cannot know the different deeds and missions of happiness; you can't tell a screm of pleasure from one of pain. Sometimes, we can barely read pain. Neither a barometer nor a guide, pain can mislead us. Even in the body, the laws of chain reactions can be false. This is why people always want a second opinion.” — 14 people liked it

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