MixedThe Women\'s Review of BooksThe book is brief, but it packs a punch in its tale of teen angst ... The cover copy promises that the \'sinister\' book will “spiral from superficial to seismic,” but Justine never quite gets there ... the queer undertones aren’t fully examined and the plot’s focus often returns to Ryan, the least likeable character, who somehow holds Ali’s loyalty. Harmon’s intention may have been to remind readers what it is like to be a teenager and not know what you want or how to get it...Harmon doesn’t fully deliver on the promised obsession and I wish there was more meat to the girls’ friendship ... Harmon’s illustrations yielded a mixed result. While her drawings of cars and butterflies felt decorative and banal, the daily chart tracking Ali’s weight loss with painstakingly detailed measurements is powerful. I lingered over the picture and felt the hurt of the young girl desperate for a feeling of autonomy ... It’s not fair to base whether you like a book on how the story turns out; there are countless stories that are still beloved despite sad endings. I guess I simply wanted more...Still, I would recommend Justine not just to Millennials like me who are nostalgic for their nineties youth, but to any reader who appreciates writing that takes teen girls’ lives seriously.
