Jane in Bloom by Deborah Lytton

[description from Amazon]

Jane’s big sister, Lizzie, has always been the center of attention. No one ever pays attention to boring, plain Jane. But when Jane’s twelfth birthday marks the beginning of Lizzie’s final descent into a fatal eating disorder, Jane discovers that the only thing harder than living in her big sister’s shadow is living without her. In the wake of tragedy, Jane learns to look through her camera lens and frame life differently, embracing her broken family and understanding that every girl has her season to blossom. Spare and vulnerable prose marks this beautiful debut that is at once heartbreaking and uplifting.

Review:

This book is very short- it's about 200 pages-, but it still packs a punch. It's unique in that it's about after the girl with the eating disorder is dead; it isn't about her, it's about the effect she has. Although Lizzie is dead, Jane's descriptions of Lizze and the funeral scene make Lizzie come alive; she still is extremely mysterious, but it feels as if she is real.

The book is written sparsely, which makes Jane seem older than her 12 years. I wasn't that big of a fan of the short sentences and descriptions, but I do think it helped the boo . The different writing style did not stop Jane's voice from leaping off the page. She starts off as more innocent, which definitely influences the tone of her writing, but as soon as Lizzie dies, there's a noticeable change in the tone. It sounds sadder, showing not only the change in tone, but also the change in Jane.

I loved Jane's development throughout the book. As expected, she mourns Lizzie's death, but as she interacts with her neighbors, she grows up. Learning to cope with Lizzie's death is something she does much easier than her parents, but she still learns to cope in a realistic way. It takes her time, a few bad moods, and a few new friends to get her out of her slump, but she still does it. I wished a little more time would have been spent with her being in a slump since it went by so fast, but that would have conflicted with the writing style a lot.

Jane in Bloom is an emotional, powerful read, but the writing style may be distracting to some.

8/10

Links: Deborah's site/blog/twitter

Dutton/Hardcover/$16.99/Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Borders/IndieBound