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easemily's review
3.75
I remember absolutely loving this book in high school, and though it was still good, it didn’t quite hold up. I do think part of it was the shock factor, that I already knew the ending, because one of the things that got me the first time was not knowing the twist. That being said, it still held up as a pretty solid book and kept me entertained. I definitely do not give it 5 stars as I did the first time, but I still like it, not much else to say.
ambeesbookishpages's review
5.0
The full review can be found at The Book Bratz closer to its release date!
**Please note: I recieved an eARC from the publisher via Edelweiss. All thoughts are my own**
Made You Up is easily one of my favorite contemporary that I have ever read (and I am VERY picky with my contemporaries). Francesca is a talented writer who created a thought provoking story about a young girl who refuses to let her mental disorder get in the way of her dreams.
When she was seven, Alex freed the lobsters at a supermarket. She received help from mysterious boy with blue eyes, who told her she smelled like lemons and himself smelled of pond water. She asked him to be her friend and he accepted, then disappeared. Shortly later Alex learned she was schizophrenic and was convinced that he was nothing but a delusion made up by her mind. Only ten years later she never expected to see this boy again.
What makes this whole book is Alex, who is a paranoid schizophrenic who takes pictures to help her know what is real or a delusion. She is terrified that the communists are coming for her, doing 360 degree perimeter checks when she walks into a room and checks her food for tracking devices that could be used by the communist to get her. Her character is so complex. The story is about her, not a romance, or a mystery (well a little bit) but about the struggle of her mental disorder and knowing what is actually real, or what her mind has made up. Besides Alex, Miles is well written with some issues of his own. He hires himself out to do weird tasks and has general assholish tendencies. But underneath all that Miles is vulnerable. Made You Up could have easily been your typical flawed girl meets flawed guy and they fall in love. Though there is romance, that wasn't the main focous. Francesca managed to branch this story off in different ways to give us a clear view into the life of Alex and her daily struggles.
Most of the story focuses on Alex's struggles but there is also the struggle that is facing both Alex and Miles. Their principle has an unhealthy obsession with the score board, dedicating a day to give it offerings and such. Alex soon uncovers that he made the board a memorial for the girl he was in love with who was crushed by it nearly twenty years earlier at their high school reunion. Now Scarlett's daughter, attends the school and the principle is forcing her to be just like her dead mother. Even if it means getting rid of anyone who is in they way. But who is going to beleive the delusional girl?
Made You Up is equally parts funny, heart breaking and thought provoking. It leaves you wondering what is real or what is fake. I am honestly going to say I wish we could get more of Alex's story. I loved her character, and getting to be in her head. She is one of my favorite characters I have read about.
**Please note: I recieved an eARC from the publisher via Edelweiss. All thoughts are my own**
Made You Up is easily one of my favorite contemporary that I have ever read (and I am VERY picky with my contemporaries). Francesca is a talented writer who created a thought provoking story about a young girl who refuses to let her mental disorder get in the way of her dreams.
When she was seven, Alex freed the lobsters at a supermarket. She received help from mysterious boy with blue eyes, who told her she smelled like lemons and himself smelled of pond water. She asked him to be her friend and he accepted, then disappeared. Shortly later Alex learned she was schizophrenic and was convinced that he was nothing but a delusion made up by her mind. Only ten years later she never expected to see this boy again.
What makes this whole book is Alex, who is a paranoid schizophrenic who takes pictures to help her know what is real or a delusion. She is terrified that the communists are coming for her, doing 360 degree perimeter checks when she walks into a room and checks her food for tracking devices that could be used by the communist to get her. Her character is so complex. The story is about her, not a romance, or a mystery (well a little bit) but about the struggle of her mental disorder and knowing what is actually real, or what her mind has made up. Besides Alex, Miles is well written with some issues of his own. He hires himself out to do weird tasks and has general assholish tendencies. But underneath all that Miles is vulnerable. Made You Up could have easily been your typical flawed girl meets flawed guy and they fall in love. Though there is romance, that wasn't the main focous. Francesca managed to branch this story off in different ways to give us a clear view into the life of Alex and her daily struggles.
Most of the story focuses on Alex's struggles but there is also the struggle that is facing both Alex and Miles. Their principle has an unhealthy obsession with the score board, dedicating a day to give it offerings and such. Alex soon uncovers that he made the board a memorial for the girl he was in love with who was crushed by it nearly twenty years earlier at their high school reunion. Now Scarlett's daughter, attends the school and the principle is forcing her to be just like her dead mother. Even if it means getting rid of anyone who is in they way. But who is going to beleive the delusional girl?
Made You Up is equally parts funny, heart breaking and thought provoking. It leaves you wondering what is real or what is fake. I am honestly going to say I wish we could get more of Alex's story. I loved her character, and getting to be in her head. She is one of my favorite characters I have read about.
nurse's review
5.0
I really missed stay up in the middle of the night with the 'one more chapter' excuse
bookphoenixx's review
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
celjla212's review
4.0
When you are reading a book where the main character is the first person narrator, and this person tells you from the beginning that they are schizophrenic, it follows that you are going to have quite a time trying to discern if what this narrator is telling you is real or not. But that's exactly what you get upon starting Made You Up; Alex herself tells you she's crazy, and even her medications aren't helping. Still, she is determined to finish out her senior year at a new high school.
Alex starts out the year with a single friend, and even he doesn't know her secret. Though it's something she struggles with everyday, Alex doesn't need the entire student body knowing about her mental illness. And from what she's seen of her conniving classmates, once they find something to latch onto about you, they never let go.
No one knows the truth of this more than Miles Richter. When Alex comes face to face with him at school, she realizes he may or may not be the boy she remembers from a very important moment in her young life. But his standoffish demeanor and nasty attitude make Alex want to stay as far away from him as possible. Until she is forced to spend time with him, and learns some hard truths.
As I said, the most interesting part of this book is knowing that the things you read may not in fact be happening. As you get to know Alex throughout the story you come to feel for her, and it's not exactly pity. You know that some things she talks about cannot be real (men in suits standing on the roof of her school), but others she talks about so passionately, it absolutely guts you when you find out they are not. There is one particularly crushing moment like this towards the end.
Alex and Miles both have their deep seated issues, and as a result their romance is slow to start. But to me, once they got fully involved with one another, it was very sweet and worth the wait. Knowing that they both had to get past so much within their own minds just to let the other get close makes the romance very fulfilling for the reader.
Although this may seem like just another teen romance novel, it's far more than that. Made You Up deals with mental illness in a very raw way, and recognizes that a person may need more help than they ever thought to move forward in their life. There are some things in the book I still can't be sure were real, and that's OK. The author does a great job of challenging the reader's perception of reality, and that is the major reason this book is a success.
Alex starts out the year with a single friend, and even he doesn't know her secret. Though it's something she struggles with everyday, Alex doesn't need the entire student body knowing about her mental illness. And from what she's seen of her conniving classmates, once they find something to latch onto about you, they never let go.
No one knows the truth of this more than Miles Richter. When Alex comes face to face with him at school, she realizes he may or may not be the boy she remembers from a very important moment in her young life. But his standoffish demeanor and nasty attitude make Alex want to stay as far away from him as possible. Until she is forced to spend time with him, and learns some hard truths.
As I said, the most interesting part of this book is knowing that the things you read may not in fact be happening. As you get to know Alex throughout the story you come to feel for her, and it's not exactly pity. You know that some things she talks about cannot be real (men in suits standing on the roof of her school), but others she talks about so passionately, it absolutely guts you when you find out they are not. There is one particularly crushing moment like this towards the end.
Alex and Miles both have their deep seated issues, and as a result their romance is slow to start. But to me, once they got fully involved with one another, it was very sweet and worth the wait. Knowing that they both had to get past so much within their own minds just to let the other get close makes the romance very fulfilling for the reader.
Although this may seem like just another teen romance novel, it's far more than that. Made You Up deals with mental illness in a very raw way, and recognizes that a person may need more help than they ever thought to move forward in their life. There are some things in the book I still can't be sure were real, and that's OK. The author does a great job of challenging the reader's perception of reality, and that is the major reason this book is a success.
labunnywtf's review
5.0
I don't like it when your head breaks.
God, this book screwed with me. This book messed with my head so much, I had to take a couple of days to process what I'd read, and all of me wants to start it back from the beginning and try again, try to see what is real and what isn't real in Alex's world.
I really, truly, and genuinely want to know if this is an accurate view inside of a schizophrenic mind. I realize that all schizophrenics don't think and feel the same way, but unless Francesca Zappia is, in fact, a schizophrenic, I really want to know if this is accurate.
Whether it is or not, though, it is still a mind bender. And my heart aches and breaks over and over throughout as I read her struggle to decipher what in her world is true and not true.
Especially considering how kind of insane her world is, even without the actual mental disorder. You feel throughout that everything has an unreal quality to it, and clearly that can't be real life. And to find out that what you were sure is not real actually is real, and things that seem obviously real are, in fact, hallucinations. It's just...
This is a really and truly brilliant look into the world of mental illness. And I don't think I can possibly put my fingers to these keys enough times to accurately express that. It's a wonderful read from start to finish.
God, this book screwed with me. This book messed with my head so much, I had to take a couple of days to process what I'd read, and all of me wants to start it back from the beginning and try again, try to see what is real and what isn't real in Alex's world.
I really, truly, and genuinely want to know if this is an accurate view inside of a schizophrenic mind. I realize that all schizophrenics don't think and feel the same way, but unless Francesca Zappia is, in fact, a schizophrenic, I really want to know if this is accurate.
Whether it is or not, though, it is still a mind bender. And my heart aches and breaks over and over throughout as I read her struggle to decipher what in her world is true and not true.
Especially considering how kind of insane her world is, even without the actual mental disorder. You feel throughout that everything has an unreal quality to it, and clearly that can't be real life. And to find out that what you were sure is not real actually is real, and things that seem obviously real are, in fact, hallucinations. It's just...
This is a really and truly brilliant look into the world of mental illness. And I don't think I can possibly put my fingers to these keys enough times to accurately express that. It's a wonderful read from start to finish.
sarahlove6's review
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
carow's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
bexxa12345's review
5.0
I love Made You Up, and Francesca's other book, Eliza and her monsters. She is a great author overall and I hope she writes more books.
Read again, I love it so much and I always have the urge to read over and over again, like I just did.
Read again, I love it so much and I always have the urge to read over and over again, like I just did.