Reading Response 3; Identical

       Raeanne and Kaeleigh continue to tell us more and more of their lives, thereby revealing how truly horrible they are. As I stated earlier, Kaeleigh has been sexually molested by the girls' father and Raeanne is doing anything and everything to gain that sort of attention, from him, from anyone, really. The latest development is that of their eating disorders. Both the girls are bulimic.

"Most people/hate to vomit./Can't stand/the protest/of an upset/stomach,/the heave/of bile and/undigested food,/the carve of/acid in the/esophagus./Okay, I don't/like that/part much/myself. But/I do like/the cool of/porcelain on/my face,/the solid/of tile beneath/my butt./Most of all, I like my belly/emptied, even/temporarily,/of food./Of fat./Of pain."

-Raeanne

"Its screaming to be fed. Begging to be satisfied./Its probably weird/to think about an addiction like it's a sentient being, but that's how it feels./Like it's something living inside you. Something you can't get rid of because killing it means killing you./I can't really understand addictions to drugs or alcohol. Things that control you./But an eating disorder is an addiction you control."

-Kaeleigh

        J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 1997, 36(8):1107–1115 has done research on childhood abuse/neglect being linked to Bulimia Nervosa.

So clever

Side note: I just discovered this spiffy thing about my book. I feel like I think this is way cooler than it actually is, but I'll post about it anyway. 

The words pulled out to the side mirror each other each time the narrator is switched. Because they're IDENTICAL TWINS. HA. 

Reading Response 2; Identital

There's been an accident.

A car accident. They were hurt and their family hasn't been the same since. 

The girls' mother is running for office so she is gone a lot of the time, leaving dad at home and lonely. By switching the role of narrator between the girls, Hopkins is able to show how both feel about the accident and how their father has acted since.

Raeanne would do anything for his attention whether its wearing the right clothes or making herself throw up after eating. Kaeleigh, on the other hand, has pulled away from him, with good reason. Raeanne spoke of the night when their father crawled into bed with Kaeleigh for the first time, she said:

"Oh, i did try to tell Mom once, but she closed up like an oyster around that pearl of truth. I guess I could have offered descriptions of Daddy's 'privates' (his word), the way he wears his scars. But hey, if she didn't care, why the hell should I? Instead, I stood by and watched father love turn to what came later."

Hopkins hasn't said anything outright about the molestation or what exactly goes on but by using passages like this and his alcohol problem she not so subtly hints at it. The story keeps getting creepier and creepier. The creepiest thing about all of this is that Raeanne repeatedly says how she doesn't understand why Kaeleigh avoids him and how she craves his affection. But is this secret about their father THE secret? 

We'll find out. 

You know you love me. 

xoxo,

Bertablog.