Donnie’s life is falling apart at lightning speed. His mother and father fight constantly and Donnie and his sister retreat outside to hide from the noise. His friends at school, well can we really call them friends if they use him and abandon him? His mother and his sister are his only life-lines and the tension there is mounting. His sister has anorexia and she is literally disappearing before his eyes. His mother is wound tighter than a drum and is on constant guard. His father ends up moving closer to his job and comes home sporadically which causes more tension in the home. Welcome to Donnie’s life. His sister Karen tries to hide her eating disorder but when her mother finds out the tension in the house explodes and Donnie’s life becomes invisible. Who really has problems and whose problem is worse: Donnie’s or Karen’s? In reality, they both have issues but they both deal with them in different ways but only Karen is getting her parent’s attention. Why is that and is that the way it should be? Donnie is trying to survive and maintain his status in society while his sister is dying to stay alive but why all this pain?The idea behind the book was superb, how we have a brother and sister both dealing with issues under the same roof at the same time while at the same time the parents are exploding and not seeing their own children vanishing before their own eyes. Donnie views are twisted at times as he thinks about far-fetched situations and his part in them but they fit the book as he is trying to cope with the situation at hand. The relationships in the book are stretched and brought back together so many times, like a rubber band, you wonder as you read when these relationship will just snap
