Customer Reviews

Drowning Anna

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Anna, a teenager moves to a new location, new school and tries to make new friends. One of them is Hayley who comes on strong at first. Then slowly, Hayley starts turning on Anna and starts making her life a living nightmare. Through all of this, Melanie, another friend hovers between the two never knowing how to deal with the situation.

I absolutely loved reading this young-adult book. While I felt, at times, frustrated, mad, sad and scared, this story, told from the point of view of Melanie was so solid and well told.

While we can feel Anna's increasing depression at the way Hayley is treating her, I found it interesting to view the character of Hayley - clearly some kind of psycho in the making. It is scary to think that these things (bullying) actually happen to our kids.

While I thought the author did a good job of fleshing out Anna's parents, they really only appear towards the end of the book, clueless as to why Anna would try to commit suicide. This also scares me - that parents seem not to know what is happening with their kids anymore.

Melanie is probably the least fleshed out for me. She comes across as weak and extremely vulnerable - which apparently she is.

This book is a gem. I wish they had these types of books when I was growing up!

Buy it.

The book Drowning Anna is definatly an excellent book it kept me turning the pages. This was the first book i read by Sue Mayfield and i truly think shes a incredible author. This book really helps people understand that no matter what if people are bullying u and bringing u down or have turned there back on u there is no reason to blame it on yourself..always be true to yourself
there were moments i have to say where i cried in the book because it got so sad..but this book is definatly a must read!!

I just finished this book. i loved it. You can feel the pain and anger of Anna and her mother and family bedside vigil, come out of the pages.
Anna Goldsmith is a young girl who is new to Yorkshire. She befriends a bitchy girl, Hayley Parkin, who pretends to be friendly but backslashes for no reason. Hayley and her henchmen abuse Anna. Anna, not knowing what to do, becomes friends with Melanie. They have their own issues. Hayley gets the 411 on Anna's x-bf Nick who is 17. Immediately, Hayley starts makeing up rumors about Anna and Nick when the relationship was totally innocent.
With all of the chaos at school, Anna feels the pleasure of hurting herself. Taking a razor and literally scratching herself up. When all of that isn't helping, Anna begins to take pills and drinks to really mess herself up.
One day from school, Anna takes some pills and vodka and gets herself knocked out. Her mom later finds her in a coma on the floor, unconcious.
Hayley doesn't realize that she is breaking Anna's spirit. In the end, Anna is okay and Haylye feels very wrong. Unfortunately Sue Mayfield doesn't fill us in at the end. Does Hayley apologize? she doesn't say. Never the less, i loved the book.

This was an amazingly well written book. It gets an inside look on the real, hidden bullying that goes on in schools and how it can effect the victims. Anna,a 15 year old girl moves from a posh town in London to a small Yorkshire town. Hayley, immediatly takes her in and starts a friendship. A couple months later Hayley "dropps" Anna. Melanie, another close friend doesn't know what to do. Anna is hurt, confused, and lonely. But, Hayley keeps pushing. All of the torture Anna goes through leaves a bigger impact on Anna than Melanie,or anyone else would understand. Caution: Anna runs through very mature relationships and does some grusome things to herself, so if you're not into reading harsh things, I would advise against this book.

the author really put her feelings into this book. it was about a girl name anna.shes a typical girl who had just moved to a town.she starts befriending other girls like hayley.but then hayley bullys her as it seems.anna is a violinist, hockey player and a good french speaker. she is a perfect student .this book really made me almost cry.it was so sad about a life of a girl.this book really tells a penatrates a vision of emotions like sympathy and hatred.

Drowning Anna written by Sue Mayfield is a book I read for my English 4 class. My view on Drowning Anna is, it was a very good book but maybe hard for some people to relate to. The book is about a young girl names Anna Goldsmith who moved from London to a middle school in Yorkshire and became really good friends with a popular girl by the name of Hailey Parker. Hayley Parker was very popular and decided to take Anna under her wing and become really good friends with Anna then one day for no apparent reason Hayley turns her back on Anna and makes her life a complete misery. It hurts Anna so much that Hayley pushed Anna to attempt suicide with her mean comments and actions. Hayley was so good at lying that everyone would believe her over Anna even her teachers. This book had different parts to it, some parts of Anna journal, parts of her friend Melanie telling the story of what kind of things Hayley would do to Anna. And a part of her parents ways and how her mom was never happy with anything. Anna was such a happy girl until she moved to that little town in Yorkshire and met Hayley Parker, then she just turned into a young girl who absolutely hated her self and couldn't stand to live anymore.
Drowning Anna was an awesome book but was very hard for me to relate to. I definitely think it's a great book and everyone should take the time to read it!

Sticks and stones will break my bones but... Anna Goldsmith knows the rest. And she knows it's a lie.

It started with Hayley Parkin, who befriended Anna when Anna moved to Melanie's school. Everyone loved Hayley but they were also afraid of her. Hayley was the sort who would be your friend one minute and make fun of your clothes the next. Of course no one told Anna that. So when her best friend suddenly starts ignoring her, spreading rumors about her and turning their classmates against her, Anna can't figure out where she went wrong. She tries to appease Hayley, but nothing seems to work. The only one who's skeptical of Hayley's actions is Melanie, who's been burned before by Hayley's slick form of cruelty. Melanie is caught in a bad place: she wants to be liked, which means staying on Hayley's good side, but she also knows exactly what Hayley does to people. No one has all the answers, until Anna attempts something drastic. In a series of letters and memories, we see Anna's true self: strong and resilient on the outside but a total wreck inside.

Think you know your friends? Think again. You know Anna, Melanie and Hayley, and you hate what they do. The author never lets you forget how real the characters are. Despite this, much of the book is melodramatic, emotionally flat and unfulfilling. The reader sees too much pain, too many malicious actions and soon becomes desensitized to it. It's tearjerker television converted to book format. A better picture of strength through cruelty is Laurie Halse Anderson's brilliant SPEAK.

--- Reviewed by Carlie Kraft

Anna Goldsmith is 16 years old. She plays the violin in the school orchestra. She's a skilled tennis player, good at hockey, and speaks French beautifully. And she has just attempted to commit suicide. Slowly, the events leading up to Anna's decision to end her life unfold, alternating from the first-person view of Melanie, her best and only friend, and the third-person view of Frances Goldsmith, her mother. What made Anna hate herself? Can she survive?... Drowning Anna made me cry. Not only is the reader extremely in tune with each character's feelings, but the plot could be the life story of any junior high or high school girl. Any girl who has been teased, bullied, or otherwise trapped in a net of demeaning lies can relate to Anna easily. From the very first page the reader is pulled into the story and the lives of those involved. Anna's struggles become your own. Mayfield notes at the end of her book "...I hope [this book] gives girls like Anna a voice- and some sense of being understood." In my opinion, she has exceeded her goal.

Drowning Anna was a wonderful look into the realities of bullying and teenage suicide. Sue Mayfield did a fantastic job of accurately discripting how one could feel so low as to try to kill her or himself. How she thought up Hayley and the things she did, I don't know. But on every page and with every word you felt the pain Anna went through, and knew that she is strong, despite what she ended up doing.
My only complaint is actually a compliment. I wish there were more to this book! There is so much depth in a recovery process for all those involved when someone attempts suicide.
This sends a powerful message to teenagers everywhere. Everything that you do has a consequence, so be careful. Lives are not to be trifled with.

I was on the edge of my seat the whole time reading this book, thats how good it was. at times I felt like crying and trying to save anna, and other times I felt like screaming at her supposed friends who did nothing but abuse her. This book was beautifully written and I could feel all the emotions anna's character went through.

This book is about a girl names anna, who tries to commit suicide because her friends at school harass her on a daily basis. Hailey was anna's best friend, and then one day stopped talking to her and kept bullying her to the point where anna started to hate herself. This isnt one of those books where the victim is unattractive or not smart, this is about a girl whose beautiful, smart, and full of live and is tortured every single day and nobody stopped it. Thats what made this book even sadder, people knew she was being abused and no one said anything or stood up to it. Even anna's best friend went along with the bullying.

I was surprised her parents did not do anything when they knew something was wrong with her. Instead when she told them what was wrong with her, they just spoke to the principal. that does not solve the problem. i feel part of the blame is also the parents fault. if they approached the situation better, it would not have turned out the way it did.

The saddest part of the story for me was in the end, when her best friend turned on her and kept adding salt to her wound. Anna was so hurt, she just gave up. there was a poem that was written in the book, it was so good. it went like this:

"nobody heard him, the dead man
but still he lay moaning: i was much further out than you thought
and not waving but drowning...

i was much too far out all my life
and not waving but drowning."

That poem gave me the chills when i read that. Such a powerful poem. Thats exactly how Anna felt right before she hurt herself.

Girls like hailey, exist in the real world every single day, and they hurt innocent people for their own pleasure. They feel so insecure they need to make others feel horrible to make themselves feel good. I hope people like hailey read this book and see the consequences of their actions.

The only problem i had with this book was the ending. There wasnt any closure. i felt that the author could have made it a little better and finished it, instead we just wonder what happened. nonetheless, it was still a great book.

I recommend it to anyone. You wont regret reading it.