A Trick of a Light
‘A Trick of a Light’ is a horrifying and important book. It handles a very sensitive topic, extreme dieting, which a lot of teenagers will connect with. They can read about the sort of unreal behavior that they may well have experienced but would never admit to. This book is like a warning to teenagers who are experiencing puberty. The behavior of the characters in the book is creepy and unbearable. They slit their wrists to pray to ‘’‘the god of saltiness’’ for skinnier bodies. They puke. They mumble words like they have a mental disorder. They do anything to keep the fact that they are losing weight secret even though they know it is risky and it will probably damage their body. And yet this book has hope. Mike opens his mind and accepts the help from the hospital and it eventually heals him in both ways: mentally and physically. The author tells us that there are solutions to a problem like this.
The voice that is in Mike’s head shakes Mike’s mind and tries to control him. It constantly says ‘strong mind, strong body, everything is all set.’ The inner voice of his is like a sweet whisper of temptation which people overcome with during puberty. In my opinion, I think the author used the voice to personify the abstract expressions and to explain the chaos and happenings in Mike’s mind more explicitly. Eventually, Mike overcomes with the eating disorder and does not let the voice demand him what to do. He recognizes what is more valuable and that people did not betray him but they were worrying for him. On the other side, the voice says that he will not betray Mike as other people did and that the voice itself will try it’s best to turn Mike’s mindset again. What the voice says towards the end indicates that the temptation will never disappear no matter what, and you should try hard for not letting it get over you.
All of the friends, guardians, and people around Mike know that something wrong is happening to Mike. Ironically, Mike himself doesn’t even have a slight glimpse that something is wrong. The relationship between Mike and all the people who try to help worsens. It continues until Mike goes to the hospital. The specialized doctor of his manages to repeat all kinds of bad influences which unhealthy and extreme diet can cause. After the treatment, surprisingly, Mike starts to worry Summer as his people did for him. He imitates what his doctor said to him and say it to Summer. Mike was extremely surprised of himself while he was saying it too. Mike changed. There always are solutions even for a major issue.
