Blog #3 - Conflict

The conflict in my book all started when Anise was hospitalized for the third time. Her brother Marcel promised to keep in touch with her and even got her a cell phone. He was like the only family she had and actually cared for and unfortunately things started to go down hill for him. His girlfriend left him and he turned to drugs. He stopped answering his phone and out of no where decides to show up at the hospital begging Anise for money because hes in trouble. He being under the influence made Anise really upset and she said no I won't give you any money. After that the brother started making a big scene and was taken out of the hospital by security and was not allowed to ever come back.

Anise remained in the hospital worried about her brother and wanting to help him. She started blaming herself saying it was her fault because she didn't give him money. She didn't hear from him for weeks until one night he called her but she decided not to pick up her phone. Since he was ignoring her she decided to ignore him too. Then the next morning she heard the tragic news, her brother Marcel was in the hospital in a coma. He had been doing crystal meth for a couple days, and smoking and injecting himself to the point of getting really aggressive with some friends and having a stroke. Nurses aren't sure how much brain damage he has or if he'll even survive. Anise after hearing the news went automatically to go visit the brother and was disappointed she let her brother down. He had scratches all over his face because he was trying to get rid of insects and worms he hallucinated were attacking him.

Anise felt like a failure and like she let her brother down. As a result of this she decided to leave a note on her nurses door saying, "I hope the exit is joyful and I hope never to return." She ran away from the hospital and passed by a drug store to buy a whole bunch of painkillers. She feels this is the end of her road. She thinks she deserves to die, not her brother. She was the one with Anorexia, the one with the lost cause, the cutter. Not her brother Marcel.

As you can see Anise didn't handle this situation very good, shes decided to blame herself for her brothers faults. She is always trying to take on other peoples problems and forgets to take care of herself. She can't fix the world and she has yet to discover that. The decision that she made to want to commit suicide and to run away is a negative one. Now whether or not the outcome is negative you'll have to wait and find out!

This leads to my question: Would you blame yourself for not answering the phone to someone who was in need? If you were in this exact situation would you go to the point of wanting to kill yourself? What do you think the outcome will be? Will she choose to live or die?

Blog #2 - Character

The main character in my novel is called Anise Jasmine Luther and she's anorexic. Shes been hospitalized for the third time at Eliza Petraclark Memorial Hospital. Anise is 16 years old and she's 5'9 and weighs 44kg. Some personality and character traits that she portrays are that she can be really stubborn and often times is intimidated by her appearance. Along with that she has a short temper and doesn't find herself remorseful. She always thinks about what people think about her and how disgusting she looks. She has a hard time accepting that some people like her teachers and boyfriend actually admire her for who she is and want the best for her. On the bright side shes a very smart girl who understands her condition and tries her best to make the right choices in life. She often contemplates between wanting to continue to live or give up and die. In the end she always decides to continue to live because she wants to be there for her brother and boyfriend.

My character made some wrong choices in this novel when she was released from the hospital the other two times she was told she had to keep eating and be at her healthy goal weight. Instead, she decided to harm herself and to start starving herself. As a consequence she ended up back in the hospital for the third time. One of her weakness' are that she has a hard time concentrating on her health and continuing to eat so she can be healthy. There was also another time Anise made a bad choice to get angry at her doctor for making her gain another 10kg past her goal weight she already achieved. She got angry to the point of wanting to hurt herself or seek revenge on the doctor. She decided to seek revenge on the doctor and decided to urinate on his special plant that he had been taking care of for a long time. As her consequence she got a orange wrist band put on her so that she can be closely watched. Her weakness seems to be that if she doesn't get what she wants then she seeks revenge on people. She didn't seem remorseful towards her actions but afterwards I think she felt bad because she went out and bought him a new plant.

Has there ever been a time you regretted a decision you made? If so, what was the decision and what was the consequence? Which decision should you have made? Did you feel remorseful?

Blog #1 - Initial Reaction

My first initial reaction to the book is that it is really interesting and seems like a good book to read, just by looking at the book cover it catches my attention. The book is about a girl named Anise who is 16 years old and weighs 44kg and thinks she is fat. She has been diagnosed with anorexia and she is the binge eating/purging type along with having symptoms of major depressive disorder. Anorexia is a combination of symptoms including amenorrhea, extreme emaciation, hypothermia, over-activity and lack of appetite.

When the novel begins Anise is in the washroom hurting herself and she is talking to her brother Marcel about being taken to go back to the hospital to be hospitalized yet again for the third time for her anorexia. Anise doesn't like being at the hospital she calls it her prison and often refers to the hospital as "4-phych-o" but while she is there she has to go to school and shes being taught by two teachers named Ms. Dobbin and Mr. Rowe whom she is really starting to like. She is learning English, Math, Science and French.

In this book the character is dealing with Anorexia right now as opposed to the book starting with her developing anorexia and it becoming a problem, it is a problem already. It doesn't help that her parents don't care about her, and that the only one who does care about her is her brother, but he too has made a huge mess of his life. The author holds on to my interest by the way she writes the novel. The story is being told by a third person perspective but along with that Anise has a journal and every time she writes in the journal it is from her point of view and it really captivates my attention when I'm reading and makes me want to continue reading.

Do you think Anise will become healthy again and be released from the hospital for good?