Me on Never Enough

Title: Never Enough
Author: Denise Jaden
Release Date: July 10, 2012
Publisher: Simon Pulse (S&S imprint)

Loann looks up to her sister Claire so much she wants to be just like her: pretty and popular. Loann doesn't see herself as either of those, so being just like her older sister would be perfect. But then some things happen, and soon Loann is flirting with Claire's ex-boyfriend. She wants to feel special for once in her life, but as she slowly makes her way into Claire's world she realizes that nothing is as it seems. That Claire's quest for perfection consumes her and comes at a dangerous price. As Claire withdraws, Loann struggles to understand her sister, hoping to heal their relationship before it's too late.

Never Enough is at many times moving, powerful, and emotional. So much of this book is about how we see others, how we compare ourselves to them when we find ourselves lacking, but we never know what's lurking on the inside. Also, this book is about eating disorders, seeing it second-hand, and seeing what it does not only to the sufferer but to the people around them. And, like any novel about teenagers, this book is about being a teenage outcast trying to find a spot where she can fit in with the rest.

Loann so reminds me of a younger sister. She wants to be just like her sister but the differences between them make it hard. Throughout the book she ends up with so much on her plate, so much about Claire and their parents and her friends and school, I'm surprised Loann's head never exploded.

Being a teenager is outrageously complicated, but some of what Loann misses when she complains about other people either to Marcus or to herself is that there's always a side to someone that she won't see, the things that happen when she's not looking or not around. When you learn what a person's secrets are, whether it's an eating disorder or abuse or social anxiety or learning disabilities, only then do you realize that everyone's life is also outrageously complicated.

This reminds me of books like Lauren Myracle's Shine or Jackie Morse Kessler's Hunger and Rage, books that discuss some of the most powerful and damaging situations that teens go through, how it's never easy to go through something like that, how it's you against yourself and all your insecurities, but that there is hope, that there are always people out there ready to help you.

(I read an e-galley of this title.)