132,585
edits
Changes
From TheBookbag
Jump to navigationJump to searchThings We Have In Common by Tasha Kavanagh (view source)
Revision as of 11:56, 3 January 2016
, 11:56, 3 January 2016no edit summary
}}
Yasmin is fifteen and seriously overweight - her capacity for consuming food will amaze and sicken. She's bullied at school and even her own mother finds her just a little bit weird: let's not go into what her stepfather thinks about her. Her father died a while ago, but Yasmin has never really come to terms with his death and still has the feeling that everything would be OK if only Terry was still around. There's a girl in Yasmin's class called Alice and Yasmin is so in awe of her that she stalks her. One day, in the school playground, she spots a man watching Alice as carefully as she does and becomes obsessed by the idea that the man is going to abduct Alice.
I'm very much in two minds about this book. The portrait of Yasmin is exquisite. Tasha Kavanagh captures her perfectly and produces a complex character, who lies easily, makes ready excuses for her behaviour, even to herself and whose weight (about fifteen stone and rising) is completely out of control. But you have sympathy for her too: her mother is of little help, giving her Maltesers as a treat on the basis that they're very light and one treat won't hurt. There's love there but little in the way of positive support. Yasmin has no friends - in fact her classmates almost vie with each other as to who can be the most cruel. One day someone calls her name and she almost doesn't respond, being far more used to more insulting names being used casually. Yasmin is deeply unsettling, but you can't help wishing that things could work out well for her.
