I read this book a long time ago when I borrowed it from the library. I liked it so much I bought it off of Amazon. I encourage others to read this amazing book.

Donnie feels himself disappearing as his sister starves herself to death. Donnie and big sister, Karen, are both sick, literally, of their parents fighting. We find out mid-way through the book that Donnie is on some kind of medication, and Karen doesn't like to eat . . . ever. But this books is not really about anorexia. It's part of the story, but there is not the usual focus that an anorexia book would have with lots of details about how a person with an eating disorder would think, act, and feel, like there is in say The Best Little Girl in the World by Levenkron.

Instead, this is told through Donnie's eyes, and we see snippets of Donnie's life. The story is not told in a continuous way. There are often large gaps between chapters. This allows the reader to get a wide lens view of what happens to this family. This story is really about a little boy with no one that sees him. His parents fight with each other and pick on Karen about her eating. Donnie gets a scrap of attention when he is running a fever. But most of the time, he feels invisible. He turns it into a game where he tries to make sure no one speaks to him at school. Everyone complies, except for a new set of twins from his school who insist on saying hi to him at least once a day.

As Karen's body disappears and becomes just skin, Donnie feels himself disappearing into her disease.

SKIN
Skin is a dark story about a fourteen year old boy named Donnie. Donnie's life is falling apart. His parents fight everyday, the girl he likes hates him, he doesn't have any friends, and his sister won't eat. All Donnie wants to do, is to be noticed, he wants his parents to pay attention to him for once, instead of his anorexic sister Karen. Karen always has the spotlight because, she has no fears whatsoever. Karen isn't afraid of cussing in front of her parents or at her parents, or running away or getting in trouble. Donnie wants to help his sister eat. He sneaks protein powder into her water when she's not looking. Karen still doesn't get any healthier or wider. Donnie is now the outcast at school. He goes through classes and the hallways, like an invisible man. Donnie doesn't notice anybody, and nobody notices him. Donnie just wants a good life. He wants his parents to stay together, and he wants Amanda to be his girlfriend, he wants friends that won't ditch him in the cafeteria. He wants his sister to be healthy. Amanda doesn't like Donnie, because he started a nasty rumor about her and himself. It made Amanda so embarrassed that she never wanted to talk to Donnie again. Even though she did talk to him soon enough. In the end, Karen isn't what you would exactly call healthy. But, Donnie did make new friends. He forgot all about his family issues and focused on what really mattered. His future. "Skin," can actually teach you a lesson on life. Be thankful for what you have and what wonderful things have happened to you. Don't think about the negative. Donnie thought about the negative, and every time, he felt worse and worse. Donnie's life was a mess. But once he started thinking of the positive, he could think clearly and fix his problems.

Fourteen year-old Donnie is fairly invisible. He and his sister Karen escape during their parents' blow-out screaming matches. When Karen is with her best friend Amanda, Donnie becomes invisible to them.

Donnie had two best friends last year. Chris and Bean are "best friends with each other, and I'm best friends with the two of them at the same time. Not individually, though, because they already have each other." This year, however, Chris and Bean decided to move up in the pecking order, which necessitates having someone like Donnie below them to cement their status.

Skin is an unflinchingly honest look at family dynamics and formative friendships. Dad never had a father of his own, so parenting is shaky territory. Mom is desperately concerned with saving her marriage and getting her teen daughter to eat. Karen creates a web of lies about her health, always full of excuses about how she just ate at Amanda's or doesn't feel up to having food right now. Karen's weight is ready fodder for arguments between Mom and Dad.

All od these tensions render Donnie, our narrator, to the the background at home, at school, and in life. Skin is a story of survival. How much can one teen absorb before he stands up to shake the world up?

A great read for early teens. As an adult it made me think back to my teen years, both the pleasant and the unpleasant.