Scan barcode
A review by eesh25
Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
3.0
Finding Audrey is a coming-of-age story about a fourteen-year-old girl named, you guessed it, Audrey. She suffers from severe anxiety because of something that happened in school. And even though it's been many months, she's still learning. She wears sun-glasses all the time, even indoors, because she has difficulty making eye contact. But she's starting school again in a few month and she needs to be able to go outside and talk to people. Her family is trying to help, as is her therapist and her older brother's cute friend, Linus.
The topic of anxiety is a pretty serious one. Most people suffer from it to some degree. Audrey's case is very severe. We're never told what happened, exactly, in school. But from what I can guess, it was bullying. Is that enough of an explanation? No, it isn't. There are so many kinds of bullying and we don't know what happened to Audrey. What was the final straw? We don't know. And that bothers me.
You see, despite the theme being a serious one, this is a very light read. I think the author wanted to make sure the book was enjoyable, so she didn't go too into depth about the "bad" stuff. And she also introduced some sub-plots that were supposed to be entertaining and gave us some over-the-top characters. The place where she went wrong was that she couldn't accomplish a light tone and juggle the main plot as well as the sub-plots. And the over-the-top nature of Audrey's mom, instead of being funny, was very annoying. Her crusade about screens being evil, and taking away her son's computer, it was frustrating. Not to mention, it's another important issue.
There's a scene in which Frank, Audrey's bother, says that parents shouldn't patronize their teenager, after he got sick of his mom acting like she was always right and that "kids these days" didn't know shit. It was about parents thinking that anything that's on the internet isn't important. Just a waste of time.
I was really interested in reading about that, as well as Audrey's learning to live with her anxiety. Unfortunately, the author may have gotten to focused on not making the book too serious, and all the important things kinda got lost in there somewhere. All the problems just got solved in their own. Audrey's experience, instead of being relatable or emotional, seemed too textbook. Like someone looked up "thoughts people with an anxiety disorder have" and that was it. There were some lines here and there that made you think that maybe the book was going somewhere right, but then it would immediately be replaced by a joke.
This is a very readable novel. Yes, I had problems with the writing. I felt that it sounded (especially in the beginning) too much like a person rambling about their day rather than an actual novel. But there were funny moments and sweet moments. The interactions between Audrey and Linus were very cute and I appreciate the effort in writing a lighthearted novel about a serious topic. But it was just too light. If you read it, don't expect much insight into... well, anything.
The topic of anxiety is a pretty serious one. Most people suffer from it to some degree. Audrey's case is very severe. We're never told what happened, exactly, in school. But from what I can guess, it was bullying. Is that enough of an explanation? No, it isn't. There are so many kinds of bullying and we don't know what happened to Audrey. What was the final straw? We don't know. And that bothers me.
You see, despite the theme being a serious one, this is a very light read. I think the author wanted to make sure the book was enjoyable, so she didn't go too into depth about the "bad" stuff. And she also introduced some sub-plots that were supposed to be entertaining and gave us some over-the-top characters. The place where she went wrong was that she couldn't accomplish a light tone and juggle the main plot as well as the sub-plots. And the over-the-top nature of Audrey's mom, instead of being funny, was very annoying. Her crusade about screens being evil, and taking away her son's computer, it was frustrating. Not to mention, it's another important issue.
There's a scene in which Frank, Audrey's bother, says that parents shouldn't patronize their teenager, after he got sick of his mom acting like she was always right and that "kids these days" didn't know shit. It was about parents thinking that anything that's on the internet isn't important. Just a waste of time.
I was really interested in reading about that, as well as Audrey's learning to live with her anxiety. Unfortunately, the author may have gotten to focused on not making the book too serious, and all the important things kinda got lost in there somewhere. All the problems just got solved in their own. Audrey's experience, instead of being relatable or emotional, seemed too textbook. Like someone looked up "thoughts people with an anxiety disorder have" and that was it. There were some lines here and there that made you think that maybe the book was going somewhere right, but then it would immediately be replaced by a joke.
This is a very readable novel. Yes, I had problems with the writing. I felt that it sounded (especially in the beginning) too much like a person rambling about their day rather than an actual novel. But there were funny moments and sweet moments. The interactions between Audrey and Linus were very cute and I appreciate the effort in writing a lighthearted novel about a serious topic. But it was just too light. If you read it, don't expect much insight into... well, anything.