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mytileneve 's review for:
Am I Normal Yet?
by Holly Bourne
This is such a great book and I would give this to every teenage girl (or boy, actually) to read. It deals with topics which are not so often found in YA such as feminism, sexism, substance abuse or mental illnesses. The most important thing, however, is that Holly Bourne tackles these topics very well and manages to accurately portray many aspects of teenage life. And that makes this book very relatable.
Holly also presents some amazing examples of everyday struggles girls face which we are so used to we hardly notice anymore. When girls want to be in a relationship they are relationship-obsessed and clingy and 'tie guys down' (nobody says a woman is ever tied down to a man but only the other way around) but when they don't want a relationship they are sluts. While men are praised and admired for sleeping around, women should be ashamed if the number of sexual partners they had is too high. Bourne openly discusses this Madonna-Whore complex in her book. Moreover, she talks about the Manic Pixie Dream Girl or Girl Next Door Slut stereotype which many young girls try to embody because that is what is portrayed on TV and in books (yes, even in YA written by women) as the 'perfect girl'. Bourne even tackles the subject of periods and not in the cringy-way you often find it talked about in teen fiction. Instead, she talks about the fact that periods are seen as something gross or shameful but at the same time, the packaging for tampons and pads is pink and flowery and over the top and the commercials are absolutely ridiculous.
Lastly, the subject of mental illness and the stigma around it is so perfectly portrayed. By having so much of the book dedicated to the main character's OCD, Bourne perfectly relates the struggles of living with a mental illness (which is something that takes over your life! anxiety/depression/OCD is NOT a character quirk, dear authors). Evie faces struggles such as the shame of being pitied, the feeling of hopelessness and the belief that if you ignore your symptoms they would eventually go away.
Overall, this is a book I wish I could shove at 16 year old me and I recommend to every young girl. I feel like 16 is the perfect age to read this, as the main character is also 16 but nevertheless I enjoyed it just as much as a 20yo. I only wish Holly Bourne discussed binge drinking, drug abuse and sex a bit more in-depth since these are subjects that feature in this book and I feel like she would have been able to pertinently write about such topics and be extremely informative. Moreover, since she already has a platform and audience and she's put herself out there as someone who's not afraid to discuss taboos, I'd love it if she went even further and mentioned things like virginity, discharge, masturbation, harmful masculinity etc in an effort to inform young people about them & normalise them. Still, I hope we'll see more on this in future books.
Holly also presents some amazing examples of everyday struggles girls face which we are so used to we hardly notice anymore. When girls want to be in a relationship they are relationship-obsessed and clingy and 'tie guys down' (nobody says a woman is ever tied down to a man but only the other way around) but when they don't want a relationship they are sluts. While men are praised and admired for sleeping around, women should be ashamed if the number of sexual partners they had is too high. Bourne openly discusses this Madonna-Whore complex in her book. Moreover, she talks about the Manic Pixie Dream Girl or Girl Next Door Slut stereotype which many young girls try to embody because that is what is portrayed on TV and in books (yes, even in YA written by women) as the 'perfect girl'. Bourne even tackles the subject of periods and not in the cringy-way you often find it talked about in teen fiction. Instead, she talks about the fact that periods are seen as something gross or shameful but at the same time, the packaging for tampons and pads is pink and flowery and over the top and the commercials are absolutely ridiculous.
Lastly, the subject of mental illness and the stigma around it is so perfectly portrayed. By having so much of the book dedicated to the main character's OCD, Bourne perfectly relates the struggles of living with a mental illness (which is something that takes over your life! anxiety/depression/OCD is NOT a character quirk, dear authors). Evie faces struggles such as the shame of being pitied, the feeling of hopelessness and the belief that if you ignore your symptoms they would eventually go away.
Overall, this is a book I wish I could shove at 16 year old me and I recommend to every young girl. I feel like 16 is the perfect age to read this, as the main character is also 16 but nevertheless I enjoyed it just as much as a 20yo. I only wish Holly Bourne discussed binge drinking, drug abuse and sex a bit more in-depth since these are subjects that feature in this book and I feel like she would have been able to pertinently write about such topics and be extremely informative. Moreover, since she already has a platform and audience and she's put herself out there as someone who's not afraid to discuss taboos, I'd love it if she went even further and mentioned things like virginity, discharge, masturbation, harmful masculinity etc in an effort to inform young people about them & normalise them. Still, I hope we'll see more on this in future books.