Finding Audrey

Product Information

Romance is already so toxic in a lot of media forms and the idea that a romantic interest (in this case, like most cases, a man) can fix something as ingrained as anxiety is a terrifying and damaging idea to be perpetuating to young girls. Instead we got one dimensional stereotyped characters, a manic pixie dream boy who changes the girl, jokes that missed their mark SO BAD that it would make you look away, prose that was blatantly written "for YA" (which never works), anxiety being "fixed" by bullshit external ways, an "incident" that was never explained (whether this was because Kinsella didn't actually know herself, was unclear), and a story with no core. The writing and plot of this book are not the worst I’ve ever read and it’s readable unlike some other books I’ve read but I didn’t hate those as much as I hate this. I owe a lot to the first two people who friend requested me (I can't even remember their names, and honestly, I feel terrible about it.

I'll start off by saying that a lot of things about Audrey and this book were so similar to me that I was freaking out a little bit. As I started to tell Audrey's story, it became apparent that I was telling a story which would appeal to young adults, and it turned into a young adult book.Audrey is in no way "cured" by the end of this novel, she is still struggling despite her improvements and I believe those improvements would be inspiring to make teens in similar situations. I turn to see Dad joining the fray, and a couple of neighbours are stepping out of their front doors. I loved how this novel was also centred around family; parents and siblings and the bonds and fights they all share.

The music on the sound system is too loud and the conversations around me are hitting my eardrums with a force that makes me wince, but I’m going with it instead of resisting.

and the other is that I often find MG characters too immature for my taste, but Kinsella's magic did it again and totally made this book and character relatable, fun, and all with an important message delivered to the readers. One of my favourite things about this book is that it's about one of those families - loud, crazy, often torn apart by arguments, but ultimately very close and loving towards one another. This book documents the recovery process of a teenage girl bullied enough to develop mental health problems (not a teenage romance although she does fall for her brother’s friend Linus and it’s adorable) it’s more about family and how they grow out of the hardships. And i've actually never done it in the 10 years i've played WoW (which is very similar to the game in the book). It’s easy to keep a poker face when you’re wearing dark glasses and a hoodie and you’re looking off to one side.

My dark glasses are on, my hands are jammed in the pockets of my hoodie, and I’ve pulled the hood up for extra protection.I honestly didn't expect any less from Sophie Kinsella but I was a bit hesitant because of two reasons, one being that this is her first try at writing middle grade books, and another being that I never really enjoy middle grade books.

We get to see the protagonist progress but also suffer from a few setbacks and learning to deal with her situation. There’s her Daily Mail reading mum, computer game addicted big brother, and well-meaning dad trying, and generally failing, to say the right thing. An outstanding tragicomedy that gently explores mental illness, the lasting effects of bullying, and the power of friends and loving family to help in the healing. Panic attacks became a regular thing, and it wasn't uncommon for me to have one once, twice, maybe even three times a week.

Let me just preface this by saying one reason why I love this book so much is because of how personal the topic is to me. When I first began this, I was wary that her sense of humour wouldn't be able to translate into a YA novel with a teenage character, but I was wrong.