∎ PDF Shut Up Anne Tibbets 9781937957360 Books

Shut Up Anne Tibbets 9781937957360 Books

Download As PDF : Shut Up Anne Tibbets 9781937957360 Books

Shut Up Anne Tibbets 9781937957360 Books

Not actually sure what this was. Either YA or a book for children, whatever's pre YA. Made all the more confusing but the fact that it isn't specified as either. In any case it certainly isn't meant for adults, unless the adults are having one of those mental regressions, which I understand make YA appealing. This is a story about a family, who after having quite enthusiastically reproduced, find themselves in reduced financial circumstances, the situation made especially difficult by some white trash shenanigans right of Shameless. The narration is done from the kids' perspectives, which can sometimes result in pretty great coming of age stories and sometimes in...whatever this was, the sort of emotionally primitive storytelling of what it's like for a girl. Apparently the story is very personal to the author with possible autobiographical elements thrown in, so there's that, presumably to explain how something this slim and basic took three years and eight rewrites. I suppose this would be good for preteens or early teens going through a tough time, maybe, no idea. It certainly does nothing for an adult reader, unless one is just in the mood for something really intellectually unchallenging. Aha, Amazon does list this as YA, GR doesn't for some reason. Somehow this ended up on my Kindle, but at least it was free and only took about 75 minutes to get through.


Tags : Shut Up [Anne Tibbets] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Mary’s older sister, Gwen, has royally screwed up her life.  Not only is Gwen pregnant at seventeen, but she’s also decided to marry The Creep who knocked her up. Now Mary is powerless to stop her family from imploding.  Her parents are freaking out,Anne Tibbets,Shut Up,Premier Digital Publishing,1937957365,JUVENILE FICTION General

Shut Up Anne Tibbets 9781937957360 Books Reviews

Back Cover Mary’s older sister, Gwen, has royally screwed up her life. Not only is Gwen pregnant at seventeen, she’s also decided to marry The Creep who knocked her up. Now Mary is powerless to stop her family from imploding. Her parents are freaking out royally, and to top it off The Creep has a gross fascination with Mary while Gwen enjoys teasing her for sport.

Despite her brother’s advice to shut up, Mary can’t keep her trapped closed and manages to piss off Mom so much it comes to blows. Mary doesn’t know what to do, and all her attempts to get help are rejected. When she finally plans her escape, she fails to consider how it could destroy them all.

Twelve-year-old Mary is the classic middle child. She tends to blend in and receives too little positive attention. Her older sister is nasty to the entire family, but more so toward Mary, who she seems to enjoy teasing. When Gwen becomes pregnant, losing her friends and status during her senior year, her behavior intensifies. Marrying a guy who is a loser and treats her badly, gropes after her younger sister, and disrespects her parents as much as she does, has not helped anyone. The entire family becomes singularly focused on Gwen’s situation, Gwen’s behavior, Gwen’s tantrums.

Mary and her brother Paul, are the only two with a somewhat clear picture of the family dynamics. Nonetheless, no one listens to anything Mary has to say about anything, let alone about Gwen, The Creep, or any problem they cause. Instead, her words tend to get her into trouble, many times inappropriately so. Mom has lost her grip on the family. She cannot handle Gwen so she seems to take it out on Mary, who is defenseless. Mom is one Gwen-moment away from a nervous breakdown. She is not handling anything correctly, mostly to the detriment of her middle child—Mary.

Shut Up is supposed to be about Mary and her efforts to save her family, but the main character is either Gwen or the family as a whole. I do not see that as a problem for the story, but it is a problem for the intended reader the middle grades*, kids ages eight to thirteen. Shut Up is a difficult story to read. It is an honest portrait of how one person can run amok, causing all sorts of trouble for the other members of the family, who are often ill equipped to handle such extreme behaviors. I would not let my middle grade child read this until they were a senior in high school. Shut Up is emotionally draining, with minimal respites from all the problems and horrible behavior.

This is simply a difficult book to read and I cannot see many middle grade kids enjoying this, much less being ready to read it. None of the subject matter will be unfamiliar to kids, but the constant barrage of negatives is depressing. The main character, Mary, is more of a punching bag not only for her sister Gwen but for Mom as well. Mom tends to blame Mary even when she is blameless. Her punishments are excessive and often mean spirited.

Having said all this, I did enjoy Shut Up. Any adult interested in family dynamics and how they can be disruptive to the point of destruction, should read this story. The author does not intensify the drama gratuitously. She has written a gut-wrenchingly real story. So much so, that I wonder whose story Shut Up really is—Mary’s or someone real. To be able to write something so authentic without some kind of personal experience would be difficult. Difficult is the operative word. I think Shut Up is something most middle graders are not ready to read. The subject matter is intense, unrelenting, and depressing.

Received Shut Up! from the author in exchange for an honest, thoughtful review. Originally reviewed at Kid Lit Reviews.
Grade D

Twelve-year-old Mary's life couldn't get any worse and she has no where to turn. She's abused, picked on by her siblings and classmates, her dad lost his job and they had to move and her pregnant teenage sister Gwen is marrying the touchy feely Creep is just latest in a list of awful things in her life.

SHUT UP is the book that coulda shoulda woulda have been soon much more. This had the potential to be a helpful, amazing story about confronting sexual abuse by an older teenager or physical and emotional abuse in the home turned out to be not much more than a cop out. Writer Anne Tibbets is all about telling, with little showing in narrating the story. Most of the chapters are in Mary's voice, and a few are in her brother Paul's. Both sets of chapters had the same vocabulary and cadence and since the story was Mary's, I'm not sure what Paul's narration added to the story.

The ending of the story was a complete 180 from the parents' behavior with little rhyme or reason. Did a lightbulb go off in their heads are turn them from abusers to parents who knew how to create a functional family before the first therapy session? That's just pie in the sky. Not addressing the sexual abuse by Gwen's boyfriend is almost criminal with a tween audience. I get that Tibbets drew some of this from her own unfortunate life experiences, but she should have used this as an opportunity to model how readers need to tell an adult when they have been sexually abused, rather than hoping one day parents wake up and life magically improves.

THEMES teen pregnancy, family, siblings, suicide, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, runaways

SHUT UP had the potential to be an important addition to literature about abuse but fails to offer concrete solutions.
Not actually sure what this was. Either YA or a book for children, whatever's pre YA. Made all the more confusing but the fact that it isn't specified as either. In any case it certainly isn't meant for adults, unless the adults are having one of those mental regressions, which I understand make YA appealing. This is a story about a family, who after having quite enthusiastically reproduced, find themselves in reduced financial circumstances, the situation made especially difficult by some white trash shenanigans right of Shameless. The narration is done from the kids' perspectives, which can sometimes result in pretty great coming of age stories and sometimes in...whatever this was, the sort of emotionally primitive storytelling of what it's like for a girl. Apparently the story is very personal to the author with possible autobiographical elements thrown in, so there's that, presumably to explain how something this slim and basic took three years and eight rewrites. I suppose this would be good for preteens or early teens going through a tough time, maybe, no idea. It certainly does nothing for an adult reader, unless one is just in the mood for something really intellectually unchallenging. Aha, does list this as YA, GR doesn't for some reason. Somehow this ended up on my , but at least it was free and only took about 75 minutes to get through.