Summary of Susan Burton's Empty

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 I was always steeling myself for things like sleepovers and school trips where you went overnight to nature camp, because I dreaded being away from home. But I never wavered, even when I knew my behavior had been registered as rude or strange.

#2 I was ten when I got my first period. I was sitting on a beanbag in the reading corner at school, and I was wearing madras Bermuda shorts. I knew that I would be the first girl in my generation to get her period.

#3 I was a shy person, but I was also one of the shy people who wanted to be seen. I was a blond, bossy older sister who sang solos and won blue ribbons. But as I grew up, I became more and more awkward.

#4 I was no longer the person I’d been my whole life. I was growing up, and I didn’t like my new body. I was not attractive, and I was not blossom-ing; I was coarsening.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Apr 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669398424

IRB Media

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Insights on Susan Burton's Empty

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

I was always steeling myself for things like sleepovers and school trips where you went overnight to nature camp, because I dreaded being away from home. But I never wavered, even when I knew my behavior had been registered as rude or strange.

#2

I was ten when I got my first period. I was sitting on a beanbag in the reading corner at school, and I was wearing madras Bermuda shorts. I knew that I would be the first girl in my generation to get her period.

#3

I was a shy person, but I was also one of the shy people who wanted to be seen. I was a blond, bossy older sister who sang solos and won blue ribbons. But as I grew up, I became more and more awkward.

#4

I was no longer the person I’d been my whole life. I was growing up, and I didn’t like my new body. I was not attractive, and I was not blossom-ing; I was coarsening.

#5

I was always thin, and I was glad I was thin. But being thin was more like an internal mandate. I looked at other girls’ bodies and tried to emulate their shapes. I didn’t deliberately try to lose weight until several years later, but now I knew that I could lose weight if I wanted to.

#6

I was too scared to look at the back of me, but when I took off my seersucker bathrobe, I saw a circle of blood the size of a pizza. I had never seen anything like it.

#7

I received a check for seventy-five dollars for my story Bellamys. I showed it to my father, who was in his chair at the kitchen table sipping beer. He was happy.