This book completely challenges the mixed messages sent out from society about what a normal teenage girl ‘should be’ and gives a honest and sometimes humorous insight into the life of a teenage girl and the struggles they face day to day.
In Am I Normal Yet?, we follow Evie around while she tries to be a normal teenager while at the same time adjusting to her new medicine dosages and suffering with severe OCD. The way Holly Bourne writes about such a sensitive subject was completely mind-opening and gave me a completely new perspective on a subject that I was not very educated about before. OCD has a very negative stigma about it and it is often not taken very seriously when in fact it is a very scary and dangerous issue that effects many people. Holly Bourne writes about OCD so compassionately and realistically and I could really empathise with Evie. At moments, I found myself having to stop reading because I was crying so much; the way that Evie’s problems are written about, especially towards the end, was so hard hitting and sometimes even made the book uncomfortable to read.
I especially loved the continuing theme of feminism throughout the book. Holly Bourne shows how it applies to a multitude of situations and I think that this makes it very relatable with all readers as it makes it a lot more accessible and easy to understand.
This book had the most honest and realistic portrayal of OCD I have ever read and I was so pleased about how the book talked about feminism and mental illnesses so openly. I also loved how there was no cliched ‘happy’ ending where the protagonists mental health was miraculously cured by falling in love. Instead, the book was about finding her identity and trying to be herself.
I would strongly recommend this book and I cannot wait to start reading the second book, How Hard Can Love Be?’ as soon as possible
• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop
