Pages:
448
Publisher:
Usborne
Release
Date: 1st
August 2015
Edition:
UK Kindle
e-book, purchased
Other
Titles by this Author: Soulmates, The Manifesto on How
to Be Interesting
All
Evie wants is to be normal. And now that she's almost off her meds and at a new
college where no one knows her as the-girl-who-went-nuts, there’s only one
thing left to tick off her list…
But
relationships can mess with anyone’s head – something Evie’s new friends Amber
and Lottie know only too well. The trouble is, if Evie won't tell them her
secrets, how they can they stop her making a huge mistake?
All of the UKYA community got
giddy with excitement when early copies of Am
I Normal Yet? made an appearance at YALC and then the rave reviews came
rushing in and I pre-ordered it on the spot. Boy, am I glad I listened to my
friends!
I can't begin this review without
first mentioning the authentic and empowering representation of mental illness.
Evie has OCD – in the form of a fear of germs and uncleanliness – and Generalised
Anxiety Disorder. When we join Evie, she’s lived with her mental illness for
three years. She’s been sectioned, on lots of medication and unable to leave
the house. Now her dose is drastically lowered, therapy seems to be working and
she’s starting college, determined to be a normal sixteen-year-old. I loved the
honesty that Bourne gave Evie’s struggles. She didn’t shy away from the hurt,
the anger, the desperation and the simple joys of Evie’s life. It felt so
authentic.
One of my favourite things about Am I Normal Yet? is how vibrant Evie’s
voice is. Her narration is sassy, witty and friendly; I loved being in her
world, even when it got heartbreaking. Evie wasn’t the sum of her illness, even
though it was undoubtedly a big part of her life. She still had friendships to
navigate, boys to try and decipher, college to attend and feminism to learn
about. The dynamic between Evie, Amber and Lottie, and Jane as well were
wonderful. I loved the support and respect and genuine affection between them
as well as the pain of drifting apart from Jane in the wake of her new
boyfriend, Joel. I really like it when female friendships are one of the most
important parts of the novel.
With the friendship between Evie,
Lottie and Amber, the Spinsters Club was born. The girls discovered in the
innate sexism in the English language: is there a male version of a spinster? A
male version of slut? Nope. They decided to reclaim ‘spinster’ and formed a
club where they discussed feminism and how it related to their lives. This opened
up dialogue with the reader to situations and ideas that they may not have
considered before; such a wonderful, fun way to introduce teens to feminism. They
discussed periods (side note: I had never considered the horror of menstruating
when you suffer from the type of OCD Evie does; awful), stereotypes, double
standards, gender roles, labels and the Bechdel test. Seriouosly fantastic
stuff.
Holly Bourne is an incredibly
important voice in YA and I’ll definitely be digging into her backlist and
putting her future releases straight on my wishlist. Am I Normal Yet? is an empowering, emotional and honest novel that
should be available to all teens.
Sophie
I love this book with all my heart. It was such an honest and heartbreaking portrayal of mental illness and young feminism, I loved it, especially Evie dealing with everything
ReplyDelete