Rating: 
Summary: Did I Miss Something??
Review: When I read a book, I really like to be drawn into the lives of the characters and although the psychological components in this book were really good, I felt let down because I just felt like I was reading a bizarre story and that was it. Faith Duckle is a girl who, at fifteen, has already experienced the worst life has to offer, she is gang-raped by a bunch of boys at a Homecoming dance, she is institutionalized because of a suicide attempt. I loved how the author let us know that Faith was an extremely dammaged girl by introducing us to Fat Girl. I believe Faith had to compartmentalize her life in order to survive. My first reaction while reading was anger towards Faith's mother. She has her own addiction, is afraid of her daughter and even though it is some seven months later and Faith is back from the institution, her mother still doesn't seem to cope very well. Faith is sent to a psychologist to no avail. She feels different from everybody else and after one more terrible event Faith decides to run away and join the circus?!?! I don't know if that's the place for someone to go who is seeing people and hearing voices that aren't really there, but whatever. Once Faith leaves home, she has some interesting experiences and while she's with the Circus, she goes through a sort of metamorphasis and finally starts to feel like she belongs somewhere. But at the Circus? The ending of this book was very disappointing. I wanted something more. And I'm still left thinking...How does the Circus and mental illness fit together? I think Ms. Davis wanted to tell the story of a young,troubled girl in a different way, but the Circus theme was a little to far-fetched for me.
Rating: 
Summary: Stunning, engaging tale
Review: With a story that grips you and doesn't let go, the author has created a world and characters that really live. Her gift for language is amazing! This is an engaging book, truly a must read. Don't miss it!
Rating:
Summary: Wonder When You'll Miss Me
Review: Wonder When You'll Miss Me is a book that is different from others. I picked it up off the shelf at my school's library because it looked like it might be interesting, and as I read more about it, the book sounded like something that would interest me. The main character is fifteen-year-old Faith, who is an ex-fat girl. She was very overweight her entire childhood and after being assaulted, spent time in a hospital and lost enough weight to make her thin. However, when she returns home she is haunted by the ghost of her former self, referred to throughout the book as "the fat girl". The fat girl is with her all the time in spirit, and this annoys Faith. She wants nothing to do with her old life or things that remind her of her old self. The closeness of home is too much for her, so after meeting a busboy that she has an interesting link to from her past, she runs away with the circus that he is part of and starts a new life with a fresh identity. What Faith doesn't realize, however, is that in running away from her problems at home, what she is really doing is finding herself in all of the mess. Over the course of months, Faith is on a journey to sanity and well-being within herself. Wonder When You'll Miss Me is a really good and touching book about a girl's inner search for herself and although it is much different than I thought it would be when I checked it out, I enjoyed it and would recommend it, especially to teenage girls who are somehow trying to find themselves. All in all, Wonder When You'll Miss me is an enjoyable and well-written book.
Rating: 
Summary: From Adolecence to Adulthood.
Review: Wonder Where You'll Miss Me by Amanda Davis is a very funny, touching story about the cruel reality of what happens to adolescents that are transitioning into adulthood.The story beings with the gang rape of an overweight 16 year old girl, by the name of Faith Duckle. While she is at her school's homecoming game, she is lured under the bleachers by eleven boys who do nothing but insult and tease her. After that horrible incident she feels very alone and depressed and tries to commit suicide. She then ends up in a mental hospital where she loses 48lbs and makes a friend named Starling. Before dying, Starling tells Faith about her bother Charlie who travels the country with the circus. When Faith is released she is inspired by Charlie's stories and keeps the circus life in mind.
When she returns to school she is a thinner more confident girl, but is constantly tormented by her imaginary "fat girl" companion. The "fat girl" who is the reminder of who she used to be, subconsciously tells her that she might be able to lose weight, but she'll never let go of the person she was. She also tells her to seek revenge against the only boy who showed her compassion at the time she was raped. Faith, in turn, physically assaults him and then runs away from home. The fat girl character in the story symbolizes that no matter how much you grow and change, something of your past will always be with you.
Trying to escape from the haunting "fat girl", Faith runs away to join the traveling Fartlesworth Circus. She establishes a new identity and names herself Annabelle Cabinet. At first she begins by picking up garbage, then works her way up to assisting with costumes, grooming the elephants and, eventually,practicing with the trapeze artists.
This story has a lot of circus details about the circus life and how it has transformed faith from a naive girl to a girl with a lot of self confidence. "It was this lightness, this emptiness, this trust that you weren't about to plummet to an unforgiving surface, powered by the weight of yourself. No. You would spin and be caught, you would flip and fall and catch, and you would swing back to a platform at the end, arms in the air, high above the crowd, proud of your victory over what hadn't happened." The circus is the place where Annabelle gradually lets go of her past and overcomes the difficult parts that have consumed her youth.
I truly recommend Wonder Where You'll Miss Me because Amanda Davis sends a strong message to those young readers who feel that they are very lonely and confused. Faith is a very distressed, tormented girl who has had a very tuff childhood, but amidst the darkness in her life she finds a place, the circus, where she accomplishes emotional stability, independence and meaning. You see her being a lonely damaged young girl to a girl who puts her life together by finding love and acceptance. This story proves that any teenager who is going trough difficult times in their life can overcome the hardships by finding something they love to motivate them.
|
