Friday, August 5, 2016

Am I Normal Yet (The Spinster Club #1) by Holly Bourne

Am I Normal Yet
(The Spinster Club #1)
Holly Bourne
YA Contemporary
Paperback, 434 pages
1st August 2015 by Usborne

Goodreads Ratings : 4.35/5
My Rating: 4/5


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? 


Oh, its very realistic alright. 

Am I Normal Yet? is every bit as thoughtful, feminist and full of friendship as I thought it would be. At some points, I feel like Evie (the MC) is childish and immature, even at 16 but at another points, I desperately want to hug her and tell, "Its okay, Evie. You're okay." 
Evie suffers from OCD and not your usual "ooh i like my pens in a line. I'm so OCD." Its the real deal, and it's heartbreaking. Shes constantly aware of germs in her surrounding, she washes her hands 70 times in an hour, thinking it's still not clean enough. And this is her story, coping with it while trying to be normal and have friends&boyfriends. I'll leave it to u guys to find out yourself. 

Funny thing is, i went and did my house chores right after finishing this book. I did the laundry and the dishes, all the while thinking, "Shit just how many germs have i touched today ew." Hah, thanks Evie for that. 

How Holly Bourne touches the issue of feminism is amazing. Rather than talking about feminism literally, she goes and relate young adults' daily lives problem with feminism. Theres this whole talk about having menstrual cycle and how the world turns it into something shameful WHICH ITS NOT???

"I always buy my sanitary pads the compact ones, so I can hide them in my hand on the way to the loo so no one can see what I'm carrying." 

Oh I so can relate. 

There are these whole other issues and funfacts (boys, mental health, sisterhood, friendship) that are so worth the read to us, girls because everything is so real and eye-opening. 

I read this right after The Rose and the Dagger so it felt a bit flat, action-wise. But thats just me and my wrong choice of timing. It's still good though. 

Read this, and you'll understand what i mean.
“Everyone's on the cliff edge of normal. Everyone finds life an utter nightmare sometimes, and there's no 'normal' way of dealing with it... There is no normal, Evelyn.” 


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