The Stone Girl

Despite some predictable elements, this drama about a girl on the road to anorexia offers candid insights into the psychological factors underlying the condition. Seventeen-year-old Sethie Weiss, a student at an elite girls' school in Manhattan, is entangled in a destructive relationship with a boy who treats her callously. Simultaneously, Sethie becomes increasingly obsessed with her weight, wishing she could look more like her new friend, Janey. What follows is an account of Sethie's regimented eating habits, her flirtation with cutting, her experimentation with drugs, and her inevitable breakup with the boy she thinks she loves. As Sethie eats less, she becomes more reclusive, isolating herself from those who care about her: Ben, a big-brother figure who shares her passion for literature; Janey, who continues to call Sethie a friend; and Sethie's mother, who remains silently concerned about her daughter. Sethie's redeeming characteristics are overshadowed by her fixations, with the third-person narration giving her voice an authentic, detached quality. Regardless of Sethie's distance from readers, Sheinmel's depiction of her self-defeating behavior comes across as vivid and painfully truthful. Ages 12%E2%80%93up. Agent: Sarah Burnes, the Gernert Company. (Aug.)