Hey Skwad!
I recently have been struggling to sleep, so I've been trying to not look at screens for at least an hour before I hit the hay and honestly, it works!
I've been filling the time that I'd usually be bingeing whatever's left on BBC iPlayer with an old pastime that over the past couple of years I just didn't have time for; Reading!
Considering how I used to be such an avid reader, with my "reading age" far above my peers, in recent years (what with GCSEs, then later A Levels) I've kinda just... stopped? This upsets me as there is nothing like curling up in bed all cosy in your pyjamas with a warm drink in one hand and a good book in the other, listening to the rain outside!
So I decided to take a page out of my mate @blackrose_books (whose blog and book "Darling Mine" you should definitely check out!) book and gather my thoughts on the subject.
So... What have I been reading then?
The book I've been reading over the last couple of days (an hour each night) was Am I normal yet? by Holly Bourne.
I remember reading this for the first time when I was about 14-15 and was, like the protagonist Evie, dreading starting Sixth Form. However, now being fresh out of Sixth Form and looking back, Sixth Form was really not as scary as my 14-year-old self made it out to be, despite the dialogue and drinking culture within the book being fairly accurate (even if I did not partake in it myself)!
Evie's quest to just try to find some sense of normality within her life and have a fresh start at a new college where no one knows her as "the girl who went nuts" is something that anyone who had a tough time during secondary school (for mental health reasons or otherwise) can relate to. Throw a rom-com into the mix and you've got yourself the perfect book (or at least, for me anyway)!
Am I normal yet? discusses the trials and tribulations of young love, and self-discovery as well as provides an excellent commentary on feminism and the standards teenage girls hold themselves and others to:
Am I being too picky about the boys I date? Is it me being snobbish? Or is he truly trouble?
The fact that Am I normal yet? is set in Sixth Form, not high school, certainly gives Evie a much more solid friend group, than the flaky and fake friendships that are naturally formed out of the hormonal and insecure Year 9s. As such, the advice Evie gets from her new-found friends is taken as genuine by readers, making you feel certain that they won't judge or dump Evie, despite her situation, which I found to be such a refreshing take for a book about teenage girls as usually they are portrayed as catty and backbiting.
Evie's back-to-back misfortune when it comes to her dating life will have you literally laughing-out-loud (I, myself, having to put the book down to process the amount of second-hand cringe I had for a fictional character), as date after date goes dramatically wrong. However, unlike your typical chick-flick, Am I normal yet? refrains from stringing on the "perfect guy" hidden-in-plain-sight-foreshadowed-in-every-chapter trope to be Evie's ultimate love interest, he's not a nice guy and Bourne doesn't stray away from showing it. What's more, Bourne shows how common it is for women to "put up" with such behaviour and settle for less, thinking that it's their fault for having their standards too high, when in reality all they're asking for is basic human decency.
Additionally, Bourne's critique of the mental health awareness movement swinging too far in the opposite direction, with self-diagnosis as well as the current trend to fake a mental illness in an attempt to be "cool", "different" or edgy" (take your pick), becoming commonplace. Not only is this once again a refreshing take on the subject but also something the general public, especially that of the teenage variety that is book is predominately aimed at, needs to hear. You're not "quirky" or "different" and your normalisation and belittlement of such issues are just defacing the movement. No one should want a mental illness. If there is something that clearly needs addressing, then help should be offered to those who need it without prejudice, but there are only so many appointments and therapy sessions out there. In the everlasting words of Bourne:
Mental illnesses have gone too far the other way. Because now mental health disorders have gone 'mainstream'. And for all the good it’s brought people like me who have been given therapy and stuff, there’s a lot of bad it’s brought too. Because now people use the phrase OCD to describe minor personality quirks. "Oooh, I like my pens in a line, I’m so OCD." NO YOU’RE F***ING NOT! "Oh my God, I was so nervous about that presentation. I literally had a panic attack." NO YOU F***ING DIDN’T! "I’m so hormonal today. I just feel totally bipolar." SHUT UP, YOU IGNORANT BUMFACE!
(Which I have to say, that last one has become my new favourite insult!)
My only criticism of this book would possibly be Evie's friends don't get as much development as Evie, every one of them being boy-obsessed. Lottie's exposition of new ideas and discussion points comes across a bit forced at times, perhaps due to her being treated the way Steve Kloves treated Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, by using the "smart friend" to "carry exposition in a wonderful way because you just assume she read it in a book". Although in the grand scheme of things, this is a minor criticism as Lottie's entire personality isn't just confined to being the "smart friend" (as you could possibly argue film Hermione was), she's witty and relatable and as much as she puts on this feminist front, she'll still cry and want chocolate when relationships don't pan out. Amber is probably the least developed, most of her personality coming from the fact she's tall, an artist and doesn't get on with her brother. However, Am I normal yet? is told through Evie's perspective and give her credit, she's got enough going on to deal with anyone else. Furthermore, Am I normal yet? is part of The Spinster Club trilogy, where every girl gets a book each, which delves into their lives and issues.
Despite, being almost the book version of those 'slice-of-life' animes, Am I normal yet? is the furthest thing from boring or mundane. Yet, these everyday scenarios that most (if not all) of us have been through at some point in our lives are beyond relatable and painstakingly British. I would HIGHLY recommend checking it out and your earliest convenience, or buying it for someone who you think would appreciate the messages, themes and values involved.
If you've read Am I normal yet? too, share your thoughts below and let's get a conversation going or recommend me some books to try out either based on the fact that (if you can't tell!) I love this one or something completely different!
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