Meg Haston

Rating: 3.5

TW: Eating Disorders, Abuse, Grief, Suicide, Depression

Stevie has a lot going on in her mind and is confident about the way she wants her life to play out. Unfortunately, her father has other plans. He admits her into an eating-disorder treatment centre for 60 DAYS! Stevie however does not intend to stay that long.

She hates everything about the clinic and is working extremely hard to ensure that her schedule is not sabotaged. She only has until the first death anniversary of her brother, which is in 27 days.

Meg Haston does a brilliant job in depicting various kinds of eating disorders and the trauma surrounding the same.

Paperweight sheds light on the deep-roots of mental health issues, the refractiveness of people suffering from them and the effort it takes to help them through.

It is not an easy read. It is very dense, depressing and impactful. The author, being a therapist, presents a raw and honest story.

Stevie is overpowered by her illness. She hates everything. EVERYTHING. Initially, she does not understand why she needs to heal or that she needs any healing at all. After all, she has her plans in place. Irrespective of her unreceptive nature, her therapist (who is addressed as ‘SHRINK’ in her thoughts) perseveres.

The shrink through her patient and consistent tries, helps Stevie open herself to more possibilities than the one that has been consuming her.

Healing is more often than not, an extremely slow process and the book manages to get across a message that inspite of the sluggishness and the amount of work needed, it is always worth it.

The growth in Stevie through the story is slow but steady. I appreciate the author for presenting a sensitive subject in a delicate manner.

A reduced star and a half are for the loose threads left in the story. Granted that the book is about Stevie and her struggles but we don’t get answers about some of the other characters like Eden who has a major impact on Stevie or her relationship with her mother.

Apart from that, it is a good book to educate ourselves about the effects of EDs.… (lisätietoja)

This book had a very beautiful arc and plot line with a lot of depth and some very well formed characters; however, I couldn't manage to connect to Stevie.

Seeing Stevie's perception of anorexia and her thoughts on the labels various eating disorders created was also very powerful and though I have no personal experience with the matter myself, I found it felt very real and poignant. There were no veils thrown over major issues and I admire this story for tackling these things in a way that feels very normal.

Stevie's plan didn't seem very feasible or quite real, and this I think was very telling.

Many characters in this story seemed to play small roles but served as really strong foils and managed to make an impact in the small space they had. Anna/Shrink was very humane and had an interesting backstory that led up to her job at the center. I loved Stevie's relationship with her roommate and how much of a contrast this relationship she provided, especially after how dismissive Stevie had been.

Stevie's parents were both well developed and had their own interesting characteristics that really added a lot to the story. Since ultimately a lot of Stevie's struggles had stemmed from this and had only been escalated by her connection to Josh, this was very telling and poignant.

But I really didn't connect to Stevie very much, and I found her backstory with Josh and Eden to be confusing. There was a lot more content that could have been fleshed out and I felt like Haston had a lot of backstory in her head that didn't make it onto the paper. If I had really felt for her, this book would have been much stronger.

Overall, this book deserves a lot of credit for creating such a real and poignant story with such a variety of characters. Though I wouldn't reread it, it was very strong.… (lisätietoja)

4.5 stars

In The End of Our Story by Meg Haston, a family tragedy provides for an opportunity for teenagers Bridget "Bridge" Hawking and Wilson "Wil" Hines to rekindle their romance. However, will the events of the year they have been apart prove to be too insurmountable for love to overcome?

Bridge and Wil's childhood friendship turned to love but Bridge's drunken mistake led Wil to break up with her. Bridge's apologies and efforts to explain have fallen on deaf ears and she eventually has no choice but to honor Wil's request she end all communication with him. Now more than a year has passed and after a brush with the law, Bridge has cleaned up her act as she eagerly awaits the end of her senior year. She is still pining over Wil, but he has made it quite obvious he is over her. Bridge has a chance encounter with Wil's dad occurs just before tragedy strikes the Hines' family and afterwards, she decides to act on his advice to try and repair her friendship with Wil. Although he is not initially receptive to her overtures, Wil gradually allows Bridge back into his life, but with everything that has happened to him during their time apart, is their second chance romance doomed to fail?

Bridge and Wil's story alternates back and forth between both of their perspectives. Bridge's part of the story occurs in the present while Wil's narration takes place during the preceding year. The descriptions of their childhood escapades are closely intertwined with Wil's close relationship with his dad who is also a father figure for Bridge whose own dad has long since abandoned her. Even before their breakup, Wil and Bridge's lives were on a different path since she is college bound and Wil is planning to continue working in the family owned business. Whether or not their relationship could survive a long distance romance becomes a moot point after Bridge's lapse in judgment leads to their break up.

After the Hines' family undergoes a catastrophic loss, Bridge reaches out to Wil who is surprisingly receptive to her efforts to support him. However, she quickly realizes that he has inexplicably changed during their time apart and in some ways, he is a stranger to her. Given the recent events in his life, some of Wil's behavior is understandable, but Bridge is conflicted by his inability to confide in her. She knows he is keeping secrets from her but the glimpses of the boy she once loved leave her hopeful for their future. But as their senior year winds down and graduation looms on the horizon, Bridge's concern for Wil deepens when she realizes he is clearly tormented by the tragedy that brought them back together.

Although there is a romantic element to the storyline, The End of Our Story by Meg Haston delves into some weighty topics that are quite thought-provoking. One of the most discerning questions that is explored is the correlation of shared traits and interests within family members and whether this is predictive to future behavior. Are children's lives destined to follow the same path (good or bad) as their parents? The answers to these questions are not always cut and dried and the novel's conclusion is appropriate if a little open ended.… (lisätietoja)