From the Back of My Shelf is a bi-monthly event, that happens on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of the month where you pull a book from the back of your shelf (with a 2009 release or prior) and review it. It’s a way to read some of those books that have been gathering dust while new books came out. Feel free to join in and participate, and link your reviews up in the Mr Linky below. Check out more in my intro post here here.
Purge
Sarah Darer Littman
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: April 1, 2009
Pages: 240
Rating: 4 stars
Janie Ryman hates throwing up. So why does she binge eat and then stick her fingers down her throat several times a day? That’s what the doctors and psychiatrists at Golden Slopes hope to help her discover. But first Janie must survive everyday conflicts between the Barfers and the Starvers, attempts by the head psychiatrist to fish painful memories out of her emotional waters, and shifting friendships and alliances among the kids in the ward.
Purge by Sarah Darer Littman was a book I really enjoyed – It feels weird to say I enjoyed it, given the subject matter, but Sarah Darer Littman has written a book filled with such hope and a positive message for teens.
I really liked the characters. I thought Janie, and all the other teens at Golden Slopes. They all were very different, but I found them all very easy to connect to. No, I haven’t gone through the same things as they had been through, but so many contributing factors to their situation I have experienced in some manners, making it really easy to relate to all of them. I really liked Tom. He was hands down my favorite character of the book. I also really liked Brad, he definitely played a smaller role, but I just loved the one scene he was in.
Each chapter started with an entry from Janie’s diary, and I thought it was a really neat format. The diary entries were very different from the regular narrative, as it was not only here thoughts, but also a lot of Janie’s back story. The one thing I wasn’t too crazy about was how Janie referred to everyone as a Puker or a Starver. It just felt a bit odd to me, and it was almost like there was like a battle between the two.
Purge‘s plot was very sad at times, but it had such an element of hope throughout most of it. There were so many touching scenes. I found Nurse Joe to be hilarious and he helped Janie a lot when no one else was really succeeding. Any scene with Tom was just great, he always brought something new to a scene
I really liked Purge. I thought it was a book that addressed a very important topic, and that Sarah Darer Littman really succeeded in writing about it. This is my first Sarah Darer Littman read, but after Purge, I am very anxious to pick up another!
Did you do a From the Back of My Shelf post? Link it here 
Hm… I’m torn between putting this on my wishlist and not. I don’t usually read books with this theme because it strikes too close to home (if you know what I mean), but I really want to know whether Janie manages to conquer this thing or not.
Evangeline recently posted..Blog Survey 2012
i love books that have to do with something that us teenagers can agree on. I defiantley have to go get this one.
Emily recently posted..Review: Need by Carrie Jones
I saw this one a couple years ago when I was doing a report on eating disorders and the media but since it was fiction I couldn’t read it and ended up just kind of forgetting about it. Thanks for reminding me of it and for the good review :]
Jasmine Rose recently posted..TGIF {14}
While its good to know that this book is good, and that it had an element of hope in it I just do ot think this book is for me. Plus, I’ve totally hit my sad book qouta for the year.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this one. =)
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