I would not have minded this so much if it wasn't for the blurb and the COVER of the book which obviously (mis)led me to believe this was a book on ED.Ĭarmen was not likeable at all - mostly because of this lack of insight into her personality. Her actions seemed pretty random at times and every time some sort of dieting-type/ED situation occurred I actually got surprised because the majority of the book had me reading about her family politics or messed up 'friends'. I felt the book didn't give a proper insight into Carmen's personality or motives, despite the entire book being in a first person narrative. But the book is barely about Carmen's dieting or ED, it's mostly about her cruel, crazy mother and the crap drama Carmen goes through. I'd previously read a really amazing ED book ('Monkey Taming' by Judith Fathallah) so was interested in trying out more of the same genre. I know that’s common practice, but with a book like this, set in Britain, I found it jarring. I was also personally annoyed that they edited out all the British spellings. However, once it gets rolling, its does great things. I personally would have edited down the first half of the book, since it takes awhile to really get going. It’s a very powerful story, but the writing could have been stronger. There’s a lot going on under the surface is Massive. Even Carmen isn’t sure of what she’s feeling, so you have to read between the lines.
This is one of the strengths of the book. You see things through her eyes only, but in a very flat, almost unemotional way. And that’s part of the power of the book: hating Carmen’s mother while at the same time feeling a great sense of sadness for her.Īlthough it’s written in first person, you never get very far inside Carmen’s head. Honestly, sometimes you really want to punch this woman for what she’s doing to her daughter. She’s moody, paranoid, and slowly unraveling at the seams. Set in England, Massive is the story of a teenager girl, Carmen, whose mother suffers from an eating disorder–one that she is slowly forcing upon her daughter. Massive, by Julia Bell, is one of those books. Some books are so good, they make you angry.
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