SuitabookThe girl you thought I was
Rebecca Phillips
- Reading
- Before reading, name the potentially difficult subjects. During or afterwards, discuss Morgan’s choices separately from her worth, and check whether the ending’s treatment of recovery feels convincing.
- Themes
- Anger, coping and wrongdoing: Morgan shoplifts after her mother leaves, is caught, and must complete community service. The story presents stealing as connected to distress and follows consequences, but the full evaluative treatment is unclear.
- Secrecy and relationships: Morgan begins a relationship with Eli while hiding her shoplifting and managing her recovery. The situation creates a clear question about trust, but the book’s judgement of Morgan’s concealment and the relationship’s outcome is unknown.
- Family change and healing: Morgan has been furious since her mother left and is described as moving from self-loathing and crime towards healing. The arc suggests emotional recovery is important, but it does not establish what healing involves or how the family situation is addressed.
- Worth knowing
- Shoplifting, parental departure, self-loathing, anger, being caught and required community service, disability following a hockey injury, secrecy and relationship pressures may deserve attention before reading.