Today's review is Butter by Erin Jade Lange. This is another book that I read way back in September 2012 and can't figure out why I didn't write a review then because I did enjoy it. Like before, I probably just forgot.
Published: September 2012
A lonely obese boy everyone calls "Butter" is about to make history. He is going to eat himself to death-live on the Internet-and everyone is invited to watch. When he first makes the announcement online to his classmates, Butter expects pity, insults, and possibly sheer indifference. What he gets are morbid cheerleaders rallying around his deadly plan. Yet as their dark encouragement grows, it begins to feel a lot like popularity. And that feels good. But what happens when Butter reaches his suicide deadline? Can he live with the fallout if he doesn't go through with his plans?
With a deft hand, E.J. Lange allows readers to identify with both the bullies and the bullied in this all-consuming look at one teen's battle with himself.
My review:
An obese, teenaged boy called Butter makes a cry for help by creating a website claiming that he will eat himself to death and do it live online. It isn't really presented as a "cry for help," but that is what it boils down to. Butter doesn't really want to eat himself to death. However, when it seems like everyone at school is so excited about his claim and looking forward to the big event, Butter feels that there is nothing to do but go through with it.
Butter is a great emotional story that explores one young boy's feelings about being obese, why he eats so much, other people's attitudes toward him, and his loneliness and desperation. I did think everything may have been tied up a little too easily and smoothly in the end, but overall, this was a book that I really enjoyed and would recommend.
Copy was provided for review.
About the author:
Erin writes facts by day and fiction by night. As a journalist, she
is inspired by current events and real-world issues and uses her writing
to explore how those issues impact teenagers.She is an only child, so she spent a lot of time entertaining herself as a kid. This required her to rely heavily on her own imagination, which is probably why she became a writer.
Erin grew up in the cornfields of northern Illinois, along the Mississippi River in one of the few places it flows east to west. She now lives in the sunshine of Arizona and will forever be torn between her love of rivers and her love of the desert.
Find out more at ErinJadeLange.com.
Geez, what a plot line!!!! This sounds pretty amazing.
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