Gravity Journal

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

As the novel opens, 16-year-old Anise Jasmine Luther, who stands 5'9" tall but weighs less than 100 pounds, is about to be "incarcerated" in 4-Psych. O-Ward, the "for psychos" section, of an Edmonton hospital where, for the third time, she will undergo treatment for anorexia. Although almost a year has elapsed since Anise’s last hospital admission, living with her wealthy, but dysfunctional mother and father, whom she calls Loathed and Witless, has caused her to relapse. Anise believes that she is only loved by her older brother, Marcel, but his support for her not only dwindles but turns into dependency as he sinks deeper into drug use, his form of escape from their parents’ control.

Most of the novel’s action occurs within the hospital’s walls and is told over an eight or nine month period through third person narration and the contents of Anise’s "gravity" journal, with the adjective referring to the force that pulls Anise’s blood to the ground when, wracked by emotional pain, she resorts to cutting. The designer’s use of a font mimicking hand printing increases the believability of the diary’s contents, some of which is told in free verse. During her treatment period, Anise finds romance with Boyd, a college student five years her senior who is being treated for bi-polar disorder.

While offering a hopeful ending, Sobat tells an emotionally powerful, engaging story, one which non-didactically provides adolescents with much information about anorexia, its various causes, and treatments. Highly Recommended.