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The View from a Kite
"I must admit that when I first started losing weight I was pleased. I dropped from a pudgy 125 down to 118 in a month, and kept on going. By the time they hauled me off to the sanatorium, a feverish, weepy, 90-pound weakling, I was out of love with elegant bones and scared that I was coming out through my skin."
Shortlisted for the 2007 CLA Young Adult Book of the Year Award
Our Choice Selection 2007
A teenager in the 1970s, Gwen is stuck in a tuberculosis sanatorium with only her journal and the occasional illicit cigarette to keep her sane. Her twisted sense of humour helps her deal with invasive medical procedures, oversensitive friends, and dictatorial nurses, but nothing can spring her from prison.
Not that life outside would be much better. Gwen is haunted by the dark and violent turn her life took just before she got sick. Her family has been shattered, and Gwen is fighting hard--with all the stubbornness and humour she can muster--not to be shattered too.
Shortlisted for the 2007 CLA Young Adult Book of the Year Award
Our Choice Selection 2007
A teenager in the 1970s, Gwen is stuck in a tuberculosis sanatorium with only her journal and the occasional illicit cigarette to keep her sane. Her twisted sense of humour helps her deal with invasive medical procedures, oversensitive friends, and dictatorial nurses, but nothing can spring her from prison.
Not that life outside would be much better. Gwen is haunted by the dark and violent turn her life took just before she got sick. Her family has been shattered, and Gwen is fighting hard--with all the stubbornness and humour she can muster--not to be shattered too.
320 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 25, 2011
This book is not a cheesy "insprational" book that sounds like a Disney script.It dosent have rainbows and unicorns and happily ever afters.Its honest and raw and moving.Gwen is a heroine that I actually felt I could relate to.She was funny and smart,and she didn't put up with any crap.She didn't sit around whining,waiting for her prince to come and save her.She saved herslf,by writing in her journal and keeping her illness from taking over her life.She was real.
I also loved that this book was set so close to where I lived.I recognized the places and could picture everything in my head perfectly.
This is one of my absolute favorite books.I reccomend it to anyone,anywhere,anytime.If you read it,you wont be sorry.
I also loved that this book was set so close to where I lived.I recognized the places and could picture everything in my head perfectly.
This is one of my absolute favorite books.I reccomend it to anyone,anywhere,anytime.If you read it,you wont be sorry.
February 27, 2013
If you're tired of books set in hospitals featuring angelic, suffering heroes and inspirational, empowering YOLO or carpe diem style endings, this is a book for you. The characters are real and believable. The medical information in the book was also interesting.
August 24, 2008
One of the shortlisted titles for the CLA Young Adult Book Award in 2007.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews