Reading in the Elementary- Blog 2

I am reading Big Girl by Danielle Steel.  I read for 1 hour this week. 

  The next portion of this book that I read was about Victoria's summer at home before she went off to college.  She couldn't wait to leave because she had felt like an outsider in her own family for as long as she could remember.  But at the same time her parents were much nicer and sensitive because for some reason that Victoria couldn't understand they didn't want her to leave; Victoria's main reason for not wanting to leave was Gracie, for she couldn't bear the thought of leaving someone she loved so much.  Eventually the time comes and Victoria leaves for college.  College was exactly everything Victoria had wanted; most of all she wanted to focus on her studies because she saw them as her ticket to freedom.  Victoria got on this pattern of doing extreme dieting a couple weeks before she would return home, enough so that it was noticable for her mother to point out.  When Victoria came to the decision that she wanted to be a teacher, her father was immediately against it; he wanted Victoria to be able to get a job and a job that payed well enough.  Victoria also worked hard to get an internship, which would allow her make some money, get some experience, and not have to go back home for that time.  Eventually her family made it up to visit her, which meant a lot to Victoria .  Victoria met  a boy in the middle of her Sophmore year and the two fell in love with each other.  One night Beau, Victoria's boyfriend, admitted to her that he was Gay and even though he loved her that this would never work and so the two ended things (because Beau had wanted to; Victoria still felt that if you loved someone you could make it work).  This breakup confirmed Victoria's deepest fear, the one that'd she'd struggled and delt with all her life, that she was not wanted or loved.  The only person that truly seemed to care for Victoria was her younger sister, Gracie.

I'm enjoying this book.  I feel like self image along with lack of confidence is something that a lot of girls struggle with.  The fear of being alone and not wanted is something that everyone deals with at some point in their life (some more than others).  It's been interesting learning about the different ways I can identify with different characters in this book.