In August I read Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne as part of my TBR for the Booktube-a-thon and I really enjoyed it. I'd even go as far as to say that it is my favourite book I've read so far this year and I thought that I'd do a book review on it!
This was my second Holly Bourne book, the first book I read by her was The Manifesto On How To Be Interesting which I had quite neutral feelings towards but I thought I should give her writing another go as Carys from Carys On Reading loves The Spinster Club trilogy, of which Am I Normal Yet is the first instalment.
Am I Normal Yet centres on Evie, a sixteen year old girl who suffers from OCD and anxiety and as a result has been in and out of hospital and takes medication. Evie has just started sixform college and wants to have as much of a normal life as possible whilst slowly coming off of her medication. She wants to make friends, get a boyfriend, go to parties, go on dates, get good grades and just live the life of a normal teenager. Whilst at college she meets Lottie and Amber who quickly become her best friends and they all realise how important feminism is and start their own feminist club!
I loved the friendship between the characters of Evie, Amber and Lottie and they were all so well developed. I also loved how the settings and the characters were all realistic, which sometimes doesn't happen in YA contemporaries. The book also dealt with mental health in a respectable and educational way.
My one and only problem with the book is a conversation the girls have near the beginning of the book. The girls have a discussion about feminism but during this discussion Amber and Lottie discuss how "all boys are the same" and "all boys are bad". This to me is the opposite of feminism as feminism is equality for all and how can you expect people to respect you if you don't respect them. One way this is redeemed however, is by Evie who says that talking like that isn't feminist and gives feminism a bad name, the girls also learn from this mistake and redeem themselves later on in the book.
Overall, I love the book and it is a great fast and entertaining read that is full of friendship and feminism!
This was my second Holly Bourne book, the first book I read by her was The Manifesto On How To Be Interesting which I had quite neutral feelings towards but I thought I should give her writing another go as Carys from Carys On Reading loves The Spinster Club trilogy, of which Am I Normal Yet is the first instalment.
Am I Normal Yet centres on Evie, a sixteen year old girl who suffers from OCD and anxiety and as a result has been in and out of hospital and takes medication. Evie has just started sixform college and wants to have as much of a normal life as possible whilst slowly coming off of her medication. She wants to make friends, get a boyfriend, go to parties, go on dates, get good grades and just live the life of a normal teenager. Whilst at college she meets Lottie and Amber who quickly become her best friends and they all realise how important feminism is and start their own feminist club!
I loved the friendship between the characters of Evie, Amber and Lottie and they were all so well developed. I also loved how the settings and the characters were all realistic, which sometimes doesn't happen in YA contemporaries. The book also dealt with mental health in a respectable and educational way.
My one and only problem with the book is a conversation the girls have near the beginning of the book. The girls have a discussion about feminism but during this discussion Amber and Lottie discuss how "all boys are the same" and "all boys are bad". This to me is the opposite of feminism as feminism is equality for all and how can you expect people to respect you if you don't respect them. One way this is redeemed however, is by Evie who says that talking like that isn't feminist and gives feminism a bad name, the girls also learn from this mistake and redeem themselves later on in the book.
Overall, I love the book and it is a great fast and entertaining read that is full of friendship and feminism!
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