Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Nothing
    Nothing
    Nothing
    Ebook185 pages1 hour

    Nothing

    By Robin Friedman

    3.5/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    "Sometimes trees can look healthy on the outside, but actually be dying inside. These trees fall unexpectedly during a storm." For high school senior Parker Rabinowitz, anything less than success is a failure. A dropped extracurricular, a C on a calc quiz, a non-Jewish shiksa girlfriend—one misstep, and his meticulously constructed life splinters and collapses. The countdown to HYP (Harvard, Yale, Princeton) has begun, and he will stay focused. That's why he has to keep it a secret. The pocketful of breath mints. The weird smell in the bathroom. He can't tell his achievement-obsessed father. He can't tell his hired college consultant. And he certainly can't tell Julianne, the "vision of hotness" he so desperately wants to love. Only Parker's little sister Danielle seems to notice that he's withering away. But the thunder of praise surrounding Parker and his accomplishments reduces her voice to broken poetry: I can't breathe when my brother's around because I feel smothered, blank and faded
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFlux
    Release dateSep 8, 2011
    ISBN9780738722337
    Author

    Robin Friedman

    Robin Friedman is an advertising copywriter and freelance writer for several newspapers and magazines in New Jersey. The Silent Witness is her first children’s book with Houghton Mifflin.

    Related to Nothing

    Related ebooks

    YA Social Themes For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      What Mice and Rats Can Teach Us About Anorexia

      May 4, 2017

      A common assumption is that media and society trigger anorexia, says Chiye Aoki, professor at New York University’s Center for Neural Science. “However, neuroscientists have shown that ordinary female adolescent rats and mice can be induced to become

      1 min read

    • Article

      Book Extract

      Jan 20, 2020

      My year off was also interesting, in that I didn’t feel any less loved, or cherished, or wanted. Why? Because my life is already rich with soulmates, and I got the chance to behold that. You don’t have to shag someone for them to be a soulmate. We do

      7 min read

    • Article

      Being Elliot Page

      Jun 2, 2022

      Being Elliot Page
      16 min read

    • Article

      Henry Winkler

      Jan 8, 2024

      Henry Winkler
      6 min read

    • Article

      Quarantine Album

      Sep 8, 2020

      It all started with a very simple request: I asked my mom, when she had time, could she look through old photos to see if there were any of pint-size me decked out for Halloween—primo Instagram content for my show Scream, Queen! (a podcast about scar

      4 min read

    • Article

      Finding Peace—and Briefly, Freedom—at My Grandfather’s Funeral

      Oct 11, 2019

      “Saying goodbye with the people who loved him—and me—I remember that I am not the tomb that imprisons me.”

      6 min read

    • Article

      Alan Cumming

      Nov 1, 2021

      Alan Cumming
      5 min read

    • Article

      Nina Sosanya

      Sep 4, 2023

      Nina Sosanya
      5 min read

    • Article

      Robin Abcarian: Parenting A Child Again Is A Challenge, A Joy And A Lesson About Who Comes First

      May 2, 2019

      It's not very often that you get a chance to relive something as profound as parenting a young child, but quite out of the blue four months ago, a little girl I love came to live with me. She is a close relative, and the circumstances that brought he

      4 min read

    • Article

      My Best Friend

      Oct 1, 2020

      My Best Friend
      6 min read

    • Article

      Dave Grohl

      Feb 1, 2021

      Dave Grohl
      8 min read

    • Article

      Q + A

      Nov 28, 2022

      Q + A
      10 min read

    • Article

      Daisy’s Day In The Sun

      Jul 12, 2022

      Daisy’s Day In The Sun
      8 min read

    • Article

      After Prison, I Became a Better Dad

      Jun 14, 2019

      “Even when a parent has been part of a child’s pain, that parent’s love can still be the antidote.”

      6 min read

    • Article

      Girls On The Playground

      Feb 18, 2021

      Girls On The Playground
      15 min read

    • Article

      Shame Is Ever-Present When You’re Sitting in a Cell

      Oct 23, 2020

      Between a strained relationship with my family and the death of a good friend, I’ve struggled to feel like I’m worth something.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Sep 1, 2022

      First prize 10 and under Tang Li, age 9 Palmetto Bay, FL My name is Anisa. I was in Hawaii on vacation. I enjoyed sipping refreshing drinks, overlooking the turquoise ocean, and dancing with others, before I overheard that the priceless Fire Ring wa

      10 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Melissa Lozada-Oliva

      Dec 17, 2021

      I'm always on my way to writing or on my way to reading. These are the big loves of my life but I'm also interested in what pulls me away from them. The post A Year in Reading: Melissa Lozada-Oliva appeared first on The Millions.

      12 min read

    • Article

      Andi Osho

      Jan 18, 2021

      Andi Osho
      5 min read

    • Article

      Tracy-ann Oberman

      Feb 13, 2023

      Tracy-ann Oberman
      5 min read

    • Article

      Spilt Milk

      Nov 4, 2019

      Spilt Milk
      10 min read

    • Article

      Culture Club

      Jul 31, 2022

      Culture Club
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Book

      Oct 30, 2019

      The Book
      20 min read

    • Article

      I Confronted My School Bullies

      Jul 3, 2019

      I Confronted My School Bullies
      6 min read

    • Article

      Duncan Hannah

      Sep 15, 2017

      Duncan Hannah
      25 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Nothing

    3.5/5

    25 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      This story is a gripping portrayal of a life spiraling out of control. Parker's frank tone is coupled with free-verse poems from Danielle's point of view, giving us a complete picture of a family falling apart. Parker doesn't know how to ask for help and Danielle, who would help him, has no idea what's going on. Mom and Dad are clueless, especially when Mr. Rabinowitz becomes ill.A Looking-for-Alaska-esque countdown starts on the first page with "88 days before" and helps move the action forward. As the countdown crept down to zero, I found myself racing through the pages to find out what was going to happen. Robin Friedman has created characters that I really cared about and I liked that we get two different perspectives. Parker's voice is urgent and raw while Danielle watches from the sidelines, resenting her brother at times, though she doesn't know what he's hiding.
    • 1/5
      I didn't connect with this novel at all - the characters were flat, the medical science questionable, and the dialogue/plot twists contrived and cliched - but I blew through it really fast so at least it was a quick read. I just think that, if someone is looking for a nuanced and helpful YA novel about a bulimic young Jewish teenage boy dealing with EDs and parental/societal pressures, you could do better than Nothing. But it could be used as a conversation starter about teenage boys with eating disorders, so it's got that going for it.
    • 5/5
      r e l a t a b l e :)

    Book preview

    Nothing - Robin Friedman

    For my good friend, Tom Davis,

    who told me.

    Copyright Information

    Nothing © 2008 by Robin Friedman.

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Flux, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

    As the purchaser of this ebook, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. The text may not be otherwise reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or recorded on any other storage device in any form or by any means.

    Any unauthorized usage of the text without express written permission of the publisher is a violation of the author’s copyright and is illegal and punishable by law.

    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Cover models used for illustrative purposes only and may not endorse or represent the book’s subject.

    First e-book edition © 2011

    E-book ISBN: 9780738722337

    Book design by Steffani Sawyer

    Cover art © 2008 by Stockbyte/Getty Images

    Cover design by Gavin Dayton Duffy

    Flux is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

    Flux does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

    Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publisher’s website for links to current author websites.

    Flux

    Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

    2143 Wooddale Drive

    Woodbury, MN 55125

    www.fluxnow.com

    Manufactured in the United States of America

    Woodbury, Minnesota

    88 days before

    Parker

    Puke.

    My life is puke.

    Literally.

    I’m staring at a bunch of puke that used to be one chocolate French silk pie, one blueberry muffin, and two peanut butter cookies, all from Perkins.

    Parker!

    My sister, Danielle, bangs on the bathroom door. One fourteen-year-old sister, one seventeen-year-old brother, and one cooperatively-shared bathroom.

    I’m almost done, I call out as casually as possible.

    Danielle, grumbling, goes away.

    I have to flush twice to get rid of all the puke.

    I carefully check my reflection in the mirror. My eyes are red and watery. I meticulously wash my hands and face in the sink, brush and floss my teeth twice, and gargle four times with extra-strength, cinnamon-flavored mouthwash. Then I shove three wintergreen breath mints into my mouth. My pockets hold the world’s record for wintergreen breath mints.

    My sister, still grumbling, comes back.

    You’re worse than a girl. It’s time to come out and face your public now.

    I check my reflection again. The eyes are blue-green; the hair’s the color of orange-blossom honey, says Mom, like they make in Vermont.

    It all fits the name Mom and Dad gave me—except for the dead giveaway of Rabinowitz being my last name.

    I open the bathroom door.

    At last, Danielle sighs. Time to make hearts break!

    I ignore this comment, shoot past her, duck into my room, and sweep my car keys off my desk.

    It happened today because I’d hardly eaten anything.

    I tried, but I just couldn’t resist.

    When I saw the Perkins, I jammed on my brakes so hard the UPS truck behind me nearly ended up in my back seat.

    I hated myself for it.

    But everything’s okay now.

    I undid the damage.

    I flushed it all away.

    Danielle

    My big brother’s

    a breaker-of-hearts.

    It’s his talent

    and hobby.

    Ask any girl

    at Livingstone High School.

    Sometimes I wonder,

    if that’s it

    or if it’s

    something else

    completely.

    I also wonder if

    the reason people

    like me

    is because it’s

    the quickest way

    to get to him.

    Parker

    I go downstairs. The house is dark and quiet, not a single Jerusalem of Gold sculpture or painting of the Dome of the Rock out of place. Mom and Dad are at the Jewish National Fund’s Tree of Life Gala.

    I walk to our four-car garage and get into my black Audi. My parents don’t do Mercedes because of that lingering Jewish stand against the Nazis, but they make an exception for Audi.

    I drive the few miles to Foxy’s house. I guess he’s been watching for me, because as soon as I pull into his driveway, he pops out of the front door.

    Yo, he grunts, sliding into the front seat, the whiff of his cologne making my nostrils flare. I crack my window even though it’s February outside, pull off the driveway, and head to the party.

    Jarod Fox and I have been friends since we shared a bar mitzvah date when we were thirteen. We’re the same height (six foot one), our families belong to the same synagogue (Temple Shalom), and we take the same classes at school (AP Physics, AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP Spanish, AP Calculus, AP Statistics).

    Foxy plays trumpet in Jazz Ensemble, and is student representative to the Livingstone School Board, vice president of our temple youth group, treasurer of Key Club, and managing editor of The Cellar (the school literary magazine). He’s in Livingstone Chorale, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and Make-A-Wish Foundation.

    We’re different in one way. Foxy has had girlfriends.

    And the other thing.

    Foxy starts messing around with the controls in the car, which I can’t stand, but I let him do it anyway.

    Dude, when are you gonna let me drive this baby? he asks, without expecting a reply, because he continues, I’m asking out Tina Taylor the hot shiksa tonight.

    Mazel tov, I mutter; congratulations in Hebrew. Shiksa means non-Jewish girl in Yiddish.

    Now that Spaz’s committed, Foxy goes on.

    I frown. I know.

    Pete Spazzarini isn’t Jewish. He’s vice president of National Honor Society, vice president of Key Club, vice president of Student Council, and on the forensics team. He’s in Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Model UN, and he doesn’t have a problem with being called Spaz.

    How are Spaz and I different? He likes building his college resume.

    We arrive at the party. It’s at the end of a dirt road, more a compound than a house, with outbuildings and sheds. I guess it’s an old farm of some kind, one of the last remaining pieces of open space in New Jersey. The actual party seems to be in a barn.

    I park on the front lawn between two trees, and Foxy and I nonchalantly make our way to the barn. Once inside, we stand around trying to look cool, mostly wondering what we should be doing. I slide three more wintergreen breath mints into my mouth. It takes a lot

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1