Because I Am Furniture by Thalia Charlas

Anke's father is abusive to her brother, mother, sister but largely ignores her. On one level she is jealous of the attention the rest of her family gets and she is denied. On another level she knows she is lucky to be invisible to him. This is a novel in verse so the story is sketchy but it goes on with Anke's school experience, mostly boys and volleyball and even with less detail her home life and that of her sibs. I guess they are living in a wood heated home on an acreage somewhere since the kids are often chopping wood and it doesn't appear to be a punishment. Her father is apparently a lawyer? He at least has government type information he can share for some sort of school project. I at least think that the ending was predictable though apparently reviewers do not. Transitions between scenes don't exist. There is just a period a brief white space and something else begins. I sometimes had to reread to figure out that - oh that was a dream - etc. Okay, the atmosphere is very stark which I suppose is just right for a story of child/spousal abuse but I like to get into the heads of characters, see who they are. I cannot tell anyone more than one thing personality wise about Anke - she was strong - or her sibs and mother - they are weak. The entire plot is my father is abusing my sibs, over and over and over again. There is no insight as to why the characters act the way they do, how anyone feels about what is happening. Well Anke a little but not deeply. I do not get why anyone thinks this is a great read. Skip this book, really you can do better. JDW 12/3/09