Genesis Begins Again

I had some rough times in junior high. I moved to a new school in 7th grade and I had the unfortunate tendency to wear high-waters, so people made fun of me. A kid in band kicked me once. Some guys used to call me "smurf." I didn't really make any friends until 8th grade, so I ate lunch alone most of the time. I remember crying to my mom about it on several occasions.

Maybe everyone goes through some rough patches like this, especially in middle school, but poor Genesis suffers to an extreme degree. She is really unhappy about the way she looks and goes to great, dangerous lengths to change her appearance (specifically, to lighten her skin). I got to a point where I was like, "There is no way anyone could be THIS unhappy about who they are and what they look like!" But even as I thought it, I knew they could be - I've known people like this! Everything is exacerbated by the fact that she has a super lame dad who is addicted to alcohol and gambling and fails to pay the rent and is mean to her. I just spent the whole book wanting to scream at Genesis that she was beautiful and wanting to scream at her mother to leave her husband. But that probably wouldn't have worked anyway because people have to reach their own conclusions about those sorts of things. And I think Genesis does a pretty good job at getting there by the end, but her mom does not. ::sigh::

Genesis is a cool protagonist in theory, but I was so overwhelmed by her negativity that I couldn't really enjoy her. The book did inspire me to go listen to some Ella Fitzgerald and Etta James, which was a great decision.