‘Girl in the Window’ From award-winning author Penny Joelson

[Sly Saint]

Fictional book

"
Girl in the Window

Kasia in ‘Girl in the Window’ has M.E. and is housebound. She has not been downstairs for the last ten weeks.

“Nothing ever happens on Kasia’s street. And Kasia would know, because her illness makes her spend days stuck at home, watching the world from her bedroom window. So, when she sees what looks like a kidnapping, she’s not sure whether she can believe her own eyes…”


When I decided the main character in my new Young Adult novel was going to have M.E., I didn’t realise quite what a challenge I had on my hands.

After all, I’d had M.E. myself. But there are very few (if any!) representations of M.E. in Young Adult fiction. I felt a burden of responsibility.

M.E. is so variable – in symptoms, degree of symptoms, impact and length of condition.

How could I reflect all this experience with one character in a book? Also, I wanted my character’s health to improve but what treatment, if any, should she have?

With all the controversies, it wasn’t going to be easy."

full article here:
https://www.meassociation.org.uk/20...inning-author-penny-joelson-12-november-2018/

sounds a bit like Hitchcocks 'Rear Window'

 

[Sly Saint]

very critical review.
included

I appreciate the author's implementation of a mental illness as vague as ME (Myalgic encephalomyelitis) which is very serious and in no way am I ranting against that interpretation. I will never read this book again, never as in, not even if I'm forced to do it. Kasia was ugh, she was a pain. Not the parts when she was strong and brave or even the parts where she had done too much and her illness had demanded of her a greater payment than she could give. None of those parts angered me, they actually made me feel as though she could be real. The parts that really bothered me were when, if she wanted to do something (walk) she would, regardless of other's trying to persuade her, but afterward? When she was in pain? She would blame anybody and everybody.

https://www.booktasticallymazing.com/post/the-girl-who-wasn-t-there-book-review

 

[Trish]

The most disheartening thing it the review is that the reviewer concluded after reading the book that ME is a mental illness. Oh dear. I sympathise with the author over that. It's really quite hard to convey that ME is not a mental illness when we don't have spots or lumps or something showing up on tests or scans. But still.

 

[Dr Carrot]

I mean the reviewer can barely spell and sounds like a fool, so.

 

[NelliePledge]

I mean the reviewer can barely spell and sounds like a fool, so.

Spot on. Didn’t finish it - ugh

 

[adambeyoncelowe]

The reviewers website accepts comments if anyone wants to point out the difference between a neurological and psychological condition.

 

[NelliePledge]

The reviewers website accepts comments if anyone wants to point out the difference between a neurological and psychological condition.

That would be good if someone has the patience. Not a job for me.

 

[TiredSam]

This is how the book has been received:

School Library Journal said: “A great, fast-paced thriller for younger teens.”

Girl in the Window has won the Lambeth Phoenix Book Award 2020 and the NE Book Award 2019! It has also been shortlisted for the Girls Day School
Trust Book Award 2020.

It has been rated 493 times and attracted 106 reviews at Goodreads:



The reviews are overwhelmingly positive and can be read here:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39301435-girl-in-the-window

The reviewers website accepts comments if anyone wants to point out the difference between a neurological and psychological condition.

This reviewer is a self-confessed wannabe author getting nowhere so has decided to set themselves up as a reviewer instead. Clicking on a few reviews at random, most of them are followed by 0 or 1 comments. The reviews are huge blocks of text, showing no thought for the reader. It looks like the rest of the world is completely unaware of / uninterested in this site, and the reviewer is writing for their own bottom drawer. Most reviews end with this:



I would suggest that 0 comments is the appropriate number. Elsewhere on the site the reviewer describes themselves as a sarcastic ranter, but just seems very wordy and rather up themselves to me. I wouldn't grace this site with any attention at all, far less a comment.

ETA: And obviously the reviewer couldn't be bothered to research ME at all.

 

[Invisible Woman]

Haven't read the book and briefly scanned the review. I wonder, could the reviewer have deliberately chosen to misrepresent ME as a mental illness in the hopes of causing a bit of controversy & drawing some attention to themselves?

 

[adambeyoncelowe]

Haven't read the book and briefly scanned the review. I wonder, could the reviewer have deliberately chosen to misrepresent ME as a mental illness in the hopes of causing a bit of controversy & drawing some attention to themselves?

I think Sam is right that they're just a bad writer.