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Book Summary and Reviews of Paperweight by Meg Haston

Paperweight by Meg Haston

Paperweight

by Meg Haston

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  • Jul 2015, 304 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

In the vein of Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls, this emotionally haunting and beautifully written young adult debut delves into the devastating impact of trauma and loss.

Seventeen-year-old Stevie is trapped. In her life. In her body. And now in an eating-disorder treatment center on the dusty outskirts of the New Mexico desert. Life in the center is regimented and intrusive, a nightmare come true. Nurses and therapists watch Stevie at meal time, accompany her to the bathroom, and challenge her to eat the foods she's worked so hard to avoid. Her dad has signed her up for sixty days of treatment. But what no one knows is that Stevie doesn't plan to stay that long. There are only twenty-seven days until the anniversary of her brother Josh's death - the death she caused. And if Stevie gets her way, there are only twenty-seven days until she, too, will end her life.

Paperweight follows Stevie's journey as she struggles not only with this life-threatening eating disorder, but with the question of whether she can ever find absolution for the mistakes of her past…and whether she truly deserves to.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Haston's contribution to the genre stands out for the complexity of its characters and for small, telling details that demonstrate just how difficult recovery can be." - Publishers Weekly

"Haston deals respectfully with the difficult subject matters of eating disorders and focuses on the recovery rather than the disease. Grade 8 and up." - School Library Journal

This information about Paperweight was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Kaitlyn M

Paper Weight
To start off, I have to say that this book has me in tears every time I read it. It breaks my heart because it's as if the author was writing down every sadness I've ever felt.
This book is heartbreaking so it's not for everyone. But the honesty and raw emotion is beautifully described.
I am so glad I came across this book.

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Author Information

Meg Haston

Meg Haston is the author of How to Rock Braces and Glasses and How to Rock Best Friends and Frenemies. She lives in Jacksonville, Florida, where she writes and works as a counselor in an independent school. Paperweight is her first young adult novel.

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