Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Shiny Misfits by Maysoon Zayid

1 review

t_higgsreviews's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

2.5 Stars
CAWPILE = 4.29

As someone who was born with Cerebral Palsy I was curious to pick this up even though the read-a-thon is over but unfortunately I was sorely disappointed in it. 

Bay Ann was pretty much obsessed with being famous to the detriment of everything else, even long friendships. After something happened she was both desperate and determined to be seen as more than her disability yet the next thing she's doing
is trying to use her disability to make people feel sorry for her which is
the exact opposite of what she wanted. She moaned about only being famous because another character helped her then once again goes and does the exact opposite
by teaming up with them in an attempt to retain her pity party fame
, falling out with her two friends in the process.
She then expects them to apologise to her even though she's in the wrong. She also fakes being ill to avoid apologising to her friends and her dad keeps her off school even though she admitted to him she was faking. She then somehow manages to come downstairs in her noisy stairlift without waking her dad (who's asleep on the couch next to the stairs) up to sneak out to apologise to her friends.
While she does eventually apologise to her friends,
they accept it straight away with no caveats or even saying she really hurt them, so
it resolves all too conveniently just in time to give the book a happy ending by giving her what she wants
(a viral video and internet fame)
.

I don't think that's a good example to set middle grade aged children as her actions were hypocritical throughout and they were  never truly shown to be wrong.
I also hated how she essentially deadnamed her mum all the way through this by calling her something she continually requested her not to. I also didn't like how veganism was pushed quite hard in this either.


Despite not liking the actions shown as acceptable in the graphic novel it could be a great conversation starter to ask children if they thought Bay Ann did anything wrong and use it as an opportunity to talk about right, wrong, contradictions and hypocrisy.

The one thing that I can say that I did like was Shadia Amin's art. It was bright and colourful and brought the story to life.

Emetophobia notes: There was:
- a whole chapter called "s*" but nothing happens other than mentions of tu*
- mention of b* & g* noises on page 143
- mention of b* on page 165.

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