For this months Sassy Books it was back to young adult with Holly Bourne’s Am I Normal Yet? This is a weird one for me because I don’t know how I feel about it and I think it’s going to be hard to review. Here’s the blurb:
All Evie wants is to be normal. She’s almost off her meds and at a new college where no one knows her as the girl-who-went-crazy. She’s even going to parties and making friends. There’s only one thing left to tick off her list…
But relationships are messy – especially relationships with teenage guys. They can make any girl feel like they’re going mad. And if Evie can’t even tell her new friends Amber and Lottie the truth about herself, how will she cope when she falls in love?
I don’t want to get into how well the mental illness is portrayed in the book because I don’t know enough about it to have an opinion. However, I do think this book could be triggering for those suffering from mental illness, but this isn’t a reflection on the book itself.
What I can vouch for is the portrayal of a 16-year-old British teen. So many of her thoughts, fears and friendships I could relate to from myself back then, including the way other kids acted, especially boys! It reminded me of events and emotions I had completely forgotten about! Really this is a book about being true to yourself and great friends. I would kill to have the friends Evelyn has at this point in my life!
The feminist overtones were interesting and I loved that it gave strength to the characters but at times the conversations did seem a little unnatural. The ending was a bit too rose-tinted for me, but this was an easy read, despite its serious subject matter. I enjoyed it although it wasn’t the most memorable.
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