My Sister's Bones [Paperback]

Cathi Hanauer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 1997

At sixteen, Billie Weinstein has plenty of problems: She's the only Jewish girl living in the all-Italian neighborhood of West Berry, NJ; she's trying hard to please her know-it-all father who listens to opera at full volume and drives full speed, and her too-accommodating mother who is either taking care of Billie's father, or Billie and her sister, or the two dogs; and on top of everything else, her older sister Cassie goes off to college, leaving Billie to fend for herself.



And now Billie's studying for the SATs. The task her father has given her is to learn twenty words a day, read the New York Times at least twice a week and watch Masterpiece Theatre whenever he tells her to, mostly because he likes it. Then Billie discovers her sister's secret: Cassie is battling anorexia and Billie's parents excuse Cassie's weight loss as stress due to the competitive atmosphere at college. Billie knows something is drastically wrong with her sister; something that could be fatal.



This novel is touching and funny and moving, and it got great reviews. And Billie Weinstein is so wry and humorous a protagonist, she's the kind of girl every woman wishes she'd had as a best friend growing up.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This is a beautifully written first novel about an ordinary, nonpracticing Jewish dysfunctional family in the suburbs. Father is an authoritarian physician. Mother is a teacher, caring but sensitive to social conventions. Daughter Cassie, a freshman at Cornell, is beautiful and brainy. Only her sister, Billie, 16 and not very sure of herself, realizes Cassie is losing weight, a lot of it, and has changed in other ways as well. When Cassie's weight drops dangerously, the family puts her into a resident facility for treatment of anorexia. Billie gets a boyfriend, a star wrestler, but gives herself physically to her friend's older brother. Gradually, as Cassie seems to disappear until only her bones remain, Billie begins to accept herself and strives to break free of her family. Hanauer paints a disturbing picture of the horrific effects of anorexia on patient and family. Recommended for public libraries.
Barbara Maslekoff, Ohioana Lib., Columbus
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

From September to May, here are an eventful few months in the life of a plucky New Jersey girl, a doctor's younger daughter who is coming of age just as her beautiful older sister begins to succumb to anorexia. At 15, Billie Weinstein, unlike her accomplished 18-year-old sister Cassie, is a rebel--and a charming mess. Her schoolwork is only adequate in a family that expects straight A's, she harbors an inappropriate crush on a local gas-station attendant called Dom, and her beloved best friend Tiffany is the school hood. Billie's father, a surgeon and a dictatorial though fundamentally loving dad, has successfully coached and coaxed Cassie into her freshman year at Cornell, his alma mater, and now is turning his watchful gaze on Billie, who is cramming for PSATs. She's also tepidly dating a boy named Vinnie, captain of the wrestling team, and secretly communicating with Cassie, who's away at college and giving veiled hints of disturbing, self-destructive episodes. When Cassie comes home for Christmas weighing 95 pounds and refusing to eat, chaos erupts. Billie's father decides to ``fix'' the situation by forcing Cassie to eat (she doesn't); Billie's mother weakly intercedes; and Cassie steadily deteriorates, losing her hair, becoming too weak to walk, eventually having to be hospitalized. In a riveting, powerful scene set in the family car on the way back from a hospital visit, Billie, ordered by her father to take the wheel and practice driving, is so criticized, controlled, and belittled by him that she pulls over, flees, and hunts up Dom, who sullenly takes her virginity and then gets drunk. Interesting subplots abound, meanwhile, in a novel that keeps moving and doesn't fall back on false reprieves or sudden saving changes of character. Cassie and her parents remain locked in a battle of expectations and resistance; only Billie sees the family pattern clearly enough to begin to escape. A persuasive, well-rendered, and rich first novel about family systems. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Delta; 1 edition (November 10, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385317042
• ISBN-13: 978-0385317047
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,093,340 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars No answers, but thought provoking, June 7, 2001

By 

BeachReader (Delaware) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Sister's Bones (Paperback)

I was on page 157 before I even looked up from this page-turner of a novel, probably most suitable for young adults.

This story is written from the perspective of the younger sister of an anorexic, but it is much more than a novel about anorexia. {On that same subject, I tried to read "The Passion of Alice" by Stephanie Grant last week and put it aside.}

"My Sister's Bones" is a first novel by Cathi Hanauer. It is the study of a family - and we all know these people: the doctor-father who pushes his children to perfection, the mother who does not like to challenge her husband's edicts, the kids who love/hate their father and love/pity their mother. I think this author has done a good job of portraying family dynamics, with fairly good writing.

I was not surprised to see that Elizabeth Berg wrote a blurb for the cover of this books. In some ways, the writing is reminiscent of Berg's, but for a younger audience.

While a good story, it seemed a mite shallow for the subject. But maybe that is not all bad if it makes people aware of the problem. I am conflicted over the rating to give this and wish that 3.5 stars were available.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a bare-bones look at life, August 18, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (fl, usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Sister's Bones (Paperback)

if you have a sister, a brother, a mother, a father, a family, you will want to read this book. Cathi Hanauer's painstakingly accurate depiction of the heoroine's coming of age amidst a family plagued by a domineering father, submissive mother, and an anorexic-stricken sister can be understood by all readers. Rather than focusing on the traditional and often popularized aspects of anorexia, Hanauer gives us Billie, the younger adolescent sister of Cassie, a rapidly deteriorating anorexic. Through Billie, we not only experience the turmoil of adolescence, but we also share an aspect of eating disorders that are rarely depicted....the effects of the disorder as seen through the eyes of the afflicted's family. The struggles of Billie and her family are frighteningly realistic, and one only naturally wonders about Hanauer's insight. Even my sister, the younger sister of an anorexic, will agree

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Just a Story About Anorexia, August 12, 2005

By 

A Teen Reader "Nicole" (Kentucky, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Sister's Bones (Paperback)

I picked up this book expecting to read a book about anorexia told by the person with the disorder who focused solely on the effects of anorexia on herself. That is why when I discovered that Billie (the sister of Cassandra, the anorexic) was the narrator of the story, I was a little surprised.

Billie is sixteen when her sister Cassie goes off to college at Cornell, which is referred to in the book by Billie as 'Corn Hell', by the prompting of her docter father. A little before Christmas break, Billie recieves a phone call from Cassie that truly disturbs her. Over Christmas break Cassie looks way too thin and becomes withdrawn from all of her old friends and family. Her father blames it all on exams and the stress of college. Billie knows it is something more complicated.

Although the main point of this story is about how Billie and her family deal with Cassie's anorexia, My Sister's Bones is also about Billie discovering herself in a divided town when she has no upbringing true to any one race/religion (her father is Jewish by birth but he never raised his kids that way). She finds comfort in her best friend Tiffany, learns why giving up Vinnie was a mistake, and realizes that Dominick is not all what he seems to be.

The uncertainty of Billie is easy to relate to and the story line itself is definitely complex and compelling enough to scare anyone out of becoming anorexic. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who needs a thought-provoking novel or insight into how much anorexia really hurts the person and their family and friends around them.