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A Perfect Ten
Perfection. That's the key aim in Eva's life. She works hard to be the girl all the other girls wish they could be. She seems to have it all. But the arrival of new girl Patty threatens Eva's perfect life and soon her mother's in rehab, her father's absent and her best friend seems more interested in snogging her brother.
266 pages, Paperback
First published September 8, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
August 29, 2017
I read this book quite some long time ago, a couple of years now. There is a very interesting story on WHY I stumbled upon this book, me being a 10-year-old, and why this book and what happened in it has stuck with me, although in a not so positive way. This is the type of review that will consist of me pouring all of my feelings into arguing why this was very damaging to me, and I need people to know why.
Synopsis: Perfection. That's the key aim in Eva's life. She works hard to be the girl all the other girls wish they could be: pretty, popular, smart and a gymnastic star, the queen of her gymnastics clique, the 'Jimmies'. She seems to have it all. But the arrival of new girl Patty threatens Eva's perfect life and soon her mother's in rehab, her father's absent and her best friend seems more interested in snogging her brother than spending time with Eva. With her life quickly unraveling Eva clings to the one thing she can control, her weight. But no matter how strong her willpower is, the dark secret that Eva has worked so hard to conceal seems determined to reveal itself �
I was ten years old when I read this book. I had just started reading all the time and getting really into stories and such. I had no idea about how big the book community was, and I knew nothing of how to find out about books. So when my father traveled, he bought them for me, and so one day, he brought "A Perfect 10". He did not read the synopsis, obviously, because otherwise, I don’t think he would have given it to me.
The real reason behind buying and giving me that book was because of the number �10� and the word “perfect� imprinted on the cover.
At that time (and still to this day) I always tried to give the best out of me, learn as much as it was possible, excel at school and get the best grades. So the number ten was a very important number to me. I was never forced to study rigorously and I was never told I had, yes or yes, to be at the top of my class. I simply always wanted to get good grades because I liked the feeling of it, of knowing stuff and being able to be good at something and know it.
So my father bought that book because he thought it would be about a girl in high-school that studied the most she could, focused in the academic part of her life the most, and had the top average of her class; the smart, dream girl I knew I wanted to be back then. “Perfect".
However, that number 10 turned out to mean a completely different thing. It did not talk about a genius girl with top grades, but it did talk about always trying to reach such point in which you were able to call yourself “perfect�. It did not, however, approach the theme in a healthy way, and it was seriously damaging for me for the longest time.
"A Perfect 10" talks about a girl, Eva, who practices gymnastics every day of her life, competes to win and is constantly fighting to be the best and perfect, dream girl. She is under the influence of her mother, who tells her what to eat and what not to, and controls her portions every day. However, when her mother goes into rehab, her world falls apart. Soon, Eva is forced to be in control of her own life, but that doesn’t mean the way she is handling things is good at all.
She takes up her mother’s place and begins to restrict her food and her portions on her own. She has a salad for lunch and when she comes back from gym practice, she is forced to clean up the mess the house is in without her mother, and forgets to have her dinner.
She is proud of herself when she loses a pound. Then quite happy when she goes down another one. But this continues, and she suddenly finds it strange that she is becoming so thin so fast.
Eva and her mother’s relationship:
Although my description above may suggest Eva’s mother was very important as regards to her eating habits and in holding her daughter’s life together, I thought their relationship was the most unhealthy one of all.
Her mother “taught" her that the right thing was to control what she ate all the time. She prohibited chocolate and treats from her, because she had to have the “perfect� body if she wanted to become the best gymnastic. But when her mother was gone, Eva was forced into trying to play her mother’s role. She didn’t know that by eating so little or that by skipping meals, even if it was unintentional, it would damage her health as it did.
You would think that this unhealthy relationship and role model would be portrayed as so in this book (as unhealthy), but by the end of the book, nothing about eating disorders or damaging influences was addressed.
It felt as if the author had written this mother-daughter situation and not even realized what a great damage it had had on the main character! Not only was it never acknowledged that Eva had suffered from eating disorders, or had mental illness and obsession for wanting to be “perfect� and reaching that unreachable goal, but also in the end, all this book left was that the only reason Eva had lost weight and the only reason why she had suffered from eating disorders was because her mother had not been there to control her.
Even more shocking to me now was the last scene of this book. Eva’s mother had returned and the whole family was having a picnic outside. There was chocolate cake. Eva asked her mother permission to eat the cake and she allowed it. She got to eat the piece of cake for once, all was good.
I finished that book, as a 10-year-old, and believed that "all was good�.
ALL IS NOT GOOD if the main character who lost a substantial amount of weight for lack of nutrition believes everything will be alright when her mother comes back to help her and control her again. All is not good if Eva was finally able to reunite with her mother and eat that chocolate cake she had been craving for her entire life. If she had been craving to eat that cake for her entire life and was forced by her mother and HER OWN MIND not to eat it, then we have a much bigger problem....
-----FULL REVIEW ON MY BLOG: ------
The making of this review was completely random, because I just SUDDENLY remembered this book I read YEARS ago. But I remembered PERFECTLY what happened in it, and I remember how negatively thought-provoking it was to me at that age. THANKFULLY I did not stumble across it at 13, when the weight and the woman’s body was a much more critical and important matter, because it would have been much more damaging to me if I had read it then.
I am thankful I didn’t read this book at 13 because I know it would have had a VERY negative, triggering aspect on me, and it would have damaged me greatly. It is sad that I am thankful for this, and I thoroughly REGRET reading this book because, even if it didn’t impact me as negatively as it could have at another age, it still did. I didn’t know back then because I was only 10. I wasn’t informed. And after finishing A Perfect 10, I had certain thoughts implanted in my mind that COULD have been very more damaging than they (thankfully) were.
I am crying while writing this, and it is because I am so glad that, at last, after some years later, I am able to recognize how damaging this book can be, reflect upon it, and thank God it didn’t affect me as it could have.
Rating: I will never give a book 0 stars because an author, a person has gone through the trouble of writing this novel. However, for the content of this book, I could give it 0 stars easily. Content + the fact that someone put work to write this, my rating equals 1 star.
RATING: 1 star.
Synopsis: Perfection. That's the key aim in Eva's life. She works hard to be the girl all the other girls wish they could be: pretty, popular, smart and a gymnastic star, the queen of her gymnastics clique, the 'Jimmies'. She seems to have it all. But the arrival of new girl Patty threatens Eva's perfect life and soon her mother's in rehab, her father's absent and her best friend seems more interested in snogging her brother than spending time with Eva. With her life quickly unraveling Eva clings to the one thing she can control, her weight. But no matter how strong her willpower is, the dark secret that Eva has worked so hard to conceal seems determined to reveal itself �
I was ten years old when I read this book. I had just started reading all the time and getting really into stories and such. I had no idea about how big the book community was, and I knew nothing of how to find out about books. So when my father traveled, he bought them for me, and so one day, he brought "A Perfect 10". He did not read the synopsis, obviously, because otherwise, I don’t think he would have given it to me.
The real reason behind buying and giving me that book was because of the number �10� and the word “perfect� imprinted on the cover.
At that time (and still to this day) I always tried to give the best out of me, learn as much as it was possible, excel at school and get the best grades. So the number ten was a very important number to me. I was never forced to study rigorously and I was never told I had, yes or yes, to be at the top of my class. I simply always wanted to get good grades because I liked the feeling of it, of knowing stuff and being able to be good at something and know it.
So my father bought that book because he thought it would be about a girl in high-school that studied the most she could, focused in the academic part of her life the most, and had the top average of her class; the smart, dream girl I knew I wanted to be back then. “Perfect".
However, that number 10 turned out to mean a completely different thing. It did not talk about a genius girl with top grades, but it did talk about always trying to reach such point in which you were able to call yourself “perfect�. It did not, however, approach the theme in a healthy way, and it was seriously damaging for me for the longest time.
"A Perfect 10" talks about a girl, Eva, who practices gymnastics every day of her life, competes to win and is constantly fighting to be the best and perfect, dream girl. She is under the influence of her mother, who tells her what to eat and what not to, and controls her portions every day. However, when her mother goes into rehab, her world falls apart. Soon, Eva is forced to be in control of her own life, but that doesn’t mean the way she is handling things is good at all.
She takes up her mother’s place and begins to restrict her food and her portions on her own. She has a salad for lunch and when she comes back from gym practice, she is forced to clean up the mess the house is in without her mother, and forgets to have her dinner.
She is proud of herself when she loses a pound. Then quite happy when she goes down another one. But this continues, and she suddenly finds it strange that she is becoming so thin so fast.
Eva and her mother’s relationship:
Although my description above may suggest Eva’s mother was very important as regards to her eating habits and in holding her daughter’s life together, I thought their relationship was the most unhealthy one of all.
Her mother “taught" her that the right thing was to control what she ate all the time. She prohibited chocolate and treats from her, because she had to have the “perfect� body if she wanted to become the best gymnastic. But when her mother was gone, Eva was forced into trying to play her mother’s role. She didn’t know that by eating so little or that by skipping meals, even if it was unintentional, it would damage her health as it did.
You would think that this unhealthy relationship and role model would be portrayed as so in this book (as unhealthy), but by the end of the book, nothing about eating disorders or damaging influences was addressed.
It felt as if the author had written this mother-daughter situation and not even realized what a great damage it had had on the main character! Not only was it never acknowledged that Eva had suffered from eating disorders, or had mental illness and obsession for wanting to be “perfect� and reaching that unreachable goal, but also in the end, all this book left was that the only reason Eva had lost weight and the only reason why she had suffered from eating disorders was because her mother had not been there to control her.
Even more shocking to me now was the last scene of this book. Eva’s mother had returned and the whole family was having a picnic outside. There was chocolate cake. Eva asked her mother permission to eat the cake and she allowed it. She got to eat the piece of cake for once, all was good.
I finished that book, as a 10-year-old, and believed that "all was good�.
ALL IS NOT GOOD if the main character who lost a substantial amount of weight for lack of nutrition believes everything will be alright when her mother comes back to help her and control her again. All is not good if Eva was finally able to reunite with her mother and eat that chocolate cake she had been craving for her entire life. If she had been craving to eat that cake for her entire life and was forced by her mother and HER OWN MIND not to eat it, then we have a much bigger problem....
-----FULL REVIEW ON MY BLOG: ------
The making of this review was completely random, because I just SUDDENLY remembered this book I read YEARS ago. But I remembered PERFECTLY what happened in it, and I remember how negatively thought-provoking it was to me at that age. THANKFULLY I did not stumble across it at 13, when the weight and the woman’s body was a much more critical and important matter, because it would have been much more damaging to me if I had read it then.
I am thankful I didn’t read this book at 13 because I know it would have had a VERY negative, triggering aspect on me, and it would have damaged me greatly. It is sad that I am thankful for this, and I thoroughly REGRET reading this book because, even if it didn’t impact me as negatively as it could have at another age, it still did. I didn’t know back then because I was only 10. I wasn’t informed. And after finishing A Perfect 10, I had certain thoughts implanted in my mind that COULD have been very more damaging than they (thankfully) were.
I am crying while writing this, and it is because I am so glad that, at last, after some years later, I am able to recognize how damaging this book can be, reflect upon it, and thank God it didn’t affect me as it could have.
Rating: I will never give a book 0 stars because an author, a person has gone through the trouble of writing this novel. However, for the content of this book, I could give it 0 stars easily. Content + the fact that someone put work to write this, my rating equals 1 star.
RATING: 1 star.
July 8, 2019
I remember liking this book as a 10 year old and decided to read it one last time before decluttering it. However, 10 years coming back to it I've come to realise it is not as perfect as I once thought. Eva is so irritating, I thought this would be a nice light read like last time but her inner monologue and the way she treats her friends and family is really infuriating. She is so conceited and bullies Patty for being overweight when all Patty wants to do is make friends at her new school. This is absolutely unnecessary as Patty did not mistreat her. I'm so glad I first read this when I was too young to completely understand and not a 13/14 were I would have been a lot more influential. I liked the other characters apart from Eva's mother and the plot is enjoyable so it doesn't deserve complete negativity.
Read
June 10, 2019At first, I thought this book was boring when reading the first few pages, but as I turned the pages, it started getting interesting. This was a good read. I did not like the main character, Eva, in the book because she criticized Patty of her weight and called her names. Eva was just jealous of Patty because she had become popular ever since she started going to her new school. Though I do understand what she was going through when she lost her sister Amber and not eating a lot of food leading her to lose so much weight, making her feel insecure. She was blaming herself for what happened to Amber and just wanted to be a perfect gymnast just like her. I felt sorry for her. I recommend that you read this book as it is heart-warming and fun to read.
Read
November 13, 2020The book touches on some modern issues like, anorexia, teen drinking and the like, but it's a kitchen sink drama of family tension, growing up, grief and struggling with loss.
It's writing style is done great! The author captured the teenage psychology and mind perfect! Seeing the world through the eyes of a teenager is not that easy. The mood swings, feelings and thoughts are well described!
I really enjoyed it! It's tension is build through a hushed-up family secret, which is sign-posted for adults I expect, but for the young readers it will give them a great pause for thought.
A book worth reading if you are a young and wild teen, this book is for you to read. It will make you love books even more, and maybe you will see some things about yourself too.
It's writing style is done great! The author captured the teenage psychology and mind perfect! Seeing the world through the eyes of a teenager is not that easy. The mood swings, feelings and thoughts are well described!
I really enjoyed it! It's tension is build through a hushed-up family secret, which is sign-posted for adults I expect, but for the young readers it will give them a great pause for thought.
A book worth reading if you are a young and wild teen, this book is for you to read. It will make you love books even more, and maybe you will see some things about yourself too.
September 7, 2024
“A Perfect Ten� by Chris Higgins is a compelling young adult novel that follows Eva, a 15-year-old gymnast struggling with the pressures of perfection. The book touches on important themes like body image, self-worth, and the unrealistic standards society often imposes on young people. Higgins� writing is engaging and relatable, making Eva’s journey towards self-acceptance both heartfelt and inspiring. While the story is somewhat predictable, it’s a nice, thought-provoking read that reminds us that perfection isn’t everything.
August 27, 2019
The perfect ten is such as lovely book me being someone who first read Chris Higgins in grade 7 when i read pride and penalties (its my favorite) . The jealousy Eve has is a bit scary in the beginning but the change she makes makes her my favorite character . All in all i loved all the characters even cute chubby Patty who despite her weight was a gymnast.
August 6, 2019
A hard-hitting contemporary about trying our best to be perfect.
May 19, 2021
Nice children's read
January 25, 2022
Hated the main character, but that is the point. Felt like it took a bit long for the story to get going anywhere. but enjoyed it by the end and felt like the ending was solid.
July 24, 2024
A childhood favourite re-read.
February 17, 2015
Surprisingly interesting. Eva is a gymnast, always striving for gold—and to be as good as her older sister, Amber. She is good; she's the best in her gymnastics club. But that hold is tenuous, and it's things Eva doesn't expect that threaten to undo her.
What's so interesting about Eva, though, is that she's not your stereotypical good girl. In some ways she is a stereotype—but a stereotypical mean girl. She's smart, and she's capable, and she wants to be damn sure that everyone around her knows. There is very little Eva will not do to keep her place at the top. Instead of a retiring, people-pleasing heroine, then, we get this sharp-edged, pushy girl who is not entirely likable. And it's delightful, because it's so much more interesting that way.
I did have quibbles with the book, although it delivered much more than I'd expected from the cover. The Big Reveal is pretty obvious—it doesn't come until page 224, but I had suspicions by page 12 and was positive by page 35. So that was a bit disappointing. I also think that Patty goes way too easy on Eva—Eva's horrible to her, and the book (or a very different version of it) could easily have been written with Patty as the plucky but picked-on protagonist. And then...the last chapter just wraps everything up, like whoops, there are still these big problems, but don't worry, I fixed them in the space between page 261 and page 262.
Still. Not brilliant, and probably somewhere between middle grade and YA, but I'm pretty pleased to have found a gymnastics book with a complicated, tetchy heroine.
Brief witterings about POV .
What's so interesting about Eva, though, is that she's not your stereotypical good girl. In some ways she is a stereotype—but a stereotypical mean girl. She's smart, and she's capable, and she wants to be damn sure that everyone around her knows. There is very little Eva will not do to keep her place at the top. Instead of a retiring, people-pleasing heroine, then, we get this sharp-edged, pushy girl who is not entirely likable. And it's delightful, because it's so much more interesting that way.
I did have quibbles with the book, although it delivered much more than I'd expected from the cover. The Big Reveal is pretty obvious—it doesn't come until page 224, but I had suspicions by page 12 and was positive by page 35. So that was a bit disappointing. I also think that Patty goes way too easy on Eva—Eva's horrible to her, and the book (or a very different version of it) could easily have been written with Patty as the plucky but picked-on protagonist. And then...the last chapter just wraps everything up, like whoops, there are still these big problems, but don't worry, I fixed them in the space between page 261 and page 262.
Still. Not brilliant, and probably somewhere between middle grade and YA, but I'm pretty pleased to have found a gymnastics book with a complicated, tetchy heroine.
Brief witterings about POV .
April 20, 2013
Overall, this book is good. If you look at it from a whole, it covers a lot of avoided topics like anorexia and bullying. But there are little bits I thought could change.
1 - Eva's attitude. We get it, she's a scared, troubled girl, but that's still no excuse for the way she treats people. I guess I can understand the way she talks to Patty (Doughnut) but to her own friends? The book is full of things like, 'she's OK but she's nowhere as good as me'. Sounds to me like she deserves to lose her friends.
2 - Obviousity. Throughout the entire book, we get little hints that tell us what happened to Eva's sister, Amber. By the third or fourth clue, it was so obvious what had happened that it was like a slap in the face. Do you know when it finally told us what had happened to Amber? Page 224! And there's only 266 pages or so. Yes, for the whole book WE knew what had happened, and had waited with bated breath for Eva to finally admit it. And when she did, I actually got a little thrill from it finally just admiting it.
But other than that, it's a really good book and you should check it out! :)
1 - Eva's attitude. We get it, she's a scared, troubled girl, but that's still no excuse for the way she treats people. I guess I can understand the way she talks to Patty (Doughnut) but to her own friends? The book is full of things like, 'she's OK but she's nowhere as good as me'. Sounds to me like she deserves to lose her friends.
2 - Obviousity. Throughout the entire book, we get little hints that tell us what happened to Eva's sister, Amber. By the third or fourth clue, it was so obvious what had happened that it was like a slap in the face. Do you know when it finally told us what had happened to Amber? Page 224! And there's only 266 pages or so. Yes, for the whole book WE knew what had happened, and had waited with bated breath for Eva to finally admit it. And when she did, I actually got a little thrill from it finally just admiting it.
But other than that, it's a really good book and you should check it out! :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 3, 2017
� 3 stars �
I've read quite a few fantasy books lately and needed a simple contemporary to give my mind a break.
Despite liking this, I had quite a few issues with the main character. Eva is a horrible person - she plays her friends off against each other, completely and utterly fat shames another girl and expects her mother to do absolutely everything for her. The big plot twist as well was incredibly obvious, and by the third hint I was shouting at Higgins to just tell us. Despite my complaints about Eva, she does sort herself out by the end of the book and I enjoyed the main plot enough that I can ever so slightly look over her horrible past ways.
I've read quite a few fantasy books lately and needed a simple contemporary to give my mind a break.
Despite liking this, I had quite a few issues with the main character. Eva is a horrible person - she plays her friends off against each other, completely and utterly fat shames another girl and expects her mother to do absolutely everything for her. The big plot twist as well was incredibly obvious, and by the third hint I was shouting at Higgins to just tell us. Despite my complaints about Eva, she does sort herself out by the end of the book and I enjoyed the main plot enough that I can ever so slightly look over her horrible past ways.
June 26, 2012
This book is about girls in the age of around 13-15 years old, but during the entire book it feels like they're 8. Perhaps 7-8 year olds are the target audience and that's why it feels so confusing?
The story is nice and deals with some important subjects, but I find it's far too slow for my taste.
The story is nice and deals with some important subjects, but I find it's far too slow for my taste.
July 1, 2016
I read this book as part of a school book-club for "gifted readers". (I left it pretty swiftly as most of the reading material was pretty poor). I did enjoy this one. The first thing I like about it is the title and how it points to more than one aspect of the book.
I can't really relate to the whole gymnastics and jealousy side of it but I did relate to a few other parts.
I can't really relate to the whole gymnastics and jealousy side of it but I did relate to a few other parts.
July 14, 2015
THIS BOOK IS AWESOME
I remembered reading this when I was twelve-I couldn't put it down! Now years later, I still love this book and would probably took it from my bookshelf again to read it.Nice characters, nice plot, nice ending! truly recommended!
p.s It took me awhile to figure out Amber was dead and Eva was actually talking to her soul or ghost or whatever. lol
I remembered reading this when I was twelve-I couldn't put it down! Now years later, I still love this book and would probably took it from my bookshelf again to read it.Nice characters, nice plot, nice ending! truly recommended!
p.s It took me awhile to figure out Amber was dead and Eva was actually talking to her soul or ghost or whatever. lol
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 9, 2015
It was an amzing book!To be honest, i didn't expect it to be much good, but it was!! I love the way eva tells her story. i love the plot, i kind of suspected it from the beginning, i had a feeling her sister was dead...good book.
April 16, 2016
I read this on holiday a couple of year back and I cannot explain how much this book blew my mind! The whole story just keeps on giving and with what gets revealed at the end it is definitely one of the best books I've read. If you are looking for a quick holiday read, pick up A Perfect 10 :)
January 26, 2012
A reallg good read and made me close to tears many times. It was well written and just fantastic!
November 14, 2012
this is why parents shouldn't pressure our young minds this also why we shouldn't get jealous so easily. anyway the book is good you should read it trust me :)
September 13, 2014
I couldn't quite relate to Eva but I loiked the book a lot!
September 21, 2016
I think the book was very nice, and I thought it was very sad when I found out Amber died in a car crash.
September 10, 2018
I received this book as a gift along with several others and I loved fact it was an easy to read story that combined real life issues.
September 9, 2019
This book deals with talents,friends and family.
January 7, 2012
I really enjoyed this book and it really touched me at the end.
May 2, 2017
I loved it.
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