Review: A Trick Of The Light
I received this book for free from FTC: Exchange for honest opinion, Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
A Trick Of The Light by Lois Metzger Series: Stand Alone
Published by Balzer + Bray on June 18th 2013
Genres: Young Adult-Contemporary
Source: FTC: Exchange for honest opinion, Publisher
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Mike Welles had everything under control. But that was before. Now things are rough at home, and they’re getting confusing at school. He’s losing his sense of direction, and he feels like he’s a mess.
Then there’s a voice in his head. A friend, who’s trying to help him get control again. More than that—the voice can guide him to become faster and stronger than he was before, to rid his life of everything that’s holding him back. To figure out who he is again. If only Mike will listen.
Telling a story of a rarely recognized segment of eating disorder sufferers—young men—A Trick of the Light by Lois Metzger is a book for fans of the complex characters and emotional truths in Laurie Halse Anderson’s Wintergirls and Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why.
When it comes to eating disorders, we quickly think of girls. We hardly ever think of men having trouble with their appearance.
Plot: Watching a young man spiral down the road of bulimia is hard. I have hard time reading about girls doing it. Mike thinks he can be in control of what he does to his body. The way he down spirals is something hard to watch. He pushes away everyone. From parents (the parents are crap anyway) to his friends.
Family: The one thing that ticked me off the most about this book is the family. UGH! They are frustrating beyond belief. Not to mention they think of nothing but themselves. It’s no wonder this kid spiraled down with no one to ever catch him.
Eating disorders: I think this book is very educational when it comes to a male point of view. Just like girls, guys too have problems with self-esteem. They just know how to hide it more. I’m glad that I got to journey though this. It will help me understand more.
Overall, this is a good book. It’s move slowly in the beginning but the build up to final act of Mike admitting his problem is amazing. A Trick Of The Light is an good book.
I give it 3 BITES!
Happy Reading!
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I enjoyed this book too. I think that it’s an important topic, especially to address it in a male. I listened to the audio of it, so the way it’s written didn’t come off as well in that format, but I thought the story was very good.
Yeah and since most books don’t talk about it, I knew I wanted to read it.
I tend to steer pretty clear of issue books so I don’t think this is one for me, but I love that it focuses on Mike and his struggle with his body image. Like you said, women aren’t the only ones with eating disorders, so I think it’s fantastic that a book like this is out there!
Hi Jenny! I love issue books. Especially when then get to heart of the topic. At times, it is hard to read but so important to understand.
Wasn’t this an odd book? I though it was very weird but poignant. I did feel like it read more like a recap because the timestamp was going so fast and the book was so short. But it was still an important story and I loved that it was a male MC!!
Interesting — I want to try this one when I have a chance@
Thanks so much for stopping by! Jen @ YA Romantics
This was such a great book! I really liked that the narrator was the actual bulimia, it made it that much more interesting for me, like I could see the sickness coming from a mile away, and how it eventually eroded his mind and body.
Oh, interesting! I don’t think I’ve read an eating disorder book from a male POV before. Going to have to check this out.