Dear Kim (and
friends!),
I was shocked... I
mean really, truly SHOCKED to find that neither one of us wrote a book review
for Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by
Becky Albertalli. This was one of my favorite books from 2015, yours too! I
made mention of the book in another review, but did not give Simon, his
Oreos, or his humor any of the LOVE they deserved.
Thank you, tinyobsessions for the image! |
Well, I won’t make the same mistake
with Becky Albertalli’s second book, The Upside of Unrequited.
In June of 2016 the cover reveal for
her second book hit the #Twittersphere, along with the blurb: “Seventeen-year-old
Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love- she’s lived through it
twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret.
Because no matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman
up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls
always have to be careful.”
After reading the blurb, I had three pretty
lofty expectations for this book:
1.) I could trust Albertalli using "Fat girls" and "crush" in the same book positively.
2.) We would
see unrequited love in the flesh, because in YA fiction that would feel
amazing!
3.) I would
love Albertalli's writing as I had in Simon.
These were the expectations. But could the book deliver? I received the book last
week and devoured it. There were so many scenes that I loved. So many bits of
Molly’s thoughts that were perfection.
1.) I could trust Albertalli using "Fat girls" and "crush" in the same book positively.
"There's a reason I've had twenty-six
crushes and no boyfriends. I don't entirely understand how anyone gets a boyfriend. Or a
girlfriend. It just seems like the most impossible odds. You have to have a
crush on the exact right person at the exact right moment. And they have to
like you back. A perfect alignment of feelings and circumstances. It's almost
unfathomable that it happens as often as it does."
I completely
connected with the main character Molly. In her mind everyone is on a
fast track in the romance department and for some reason she is left behind. (She
connects this at first to her body, more on that later.) Molly is Etsy, Pinterest,
and wedding blog obsessed. She’s incredibly observant, which is totally
characteristic for someone who thinks she needs to “catch up” with her friends.
I love Molly’s
voice. The way that she examines her insecurities feels very real. I love that
food is viewed positively in the book. (Aside from her grandmother’s comments. And, with that, well done, Becky! Oh the
feelings you gave with eating the cookie dough next to grandma. Blech! So
real!) I love that clothing was also seen positively—Molly’s 4th of
July outfit and the dress for the wedding. (MODCLOTH and TORRID take note.)
The female ensemble that Becky Albertalli assembled is fabulous. They're funny, loving, and happy, but they are also upsetting and downright unlikable at times.
2.) We would see unrequited love in the flesh, because in YA fiction that would feel amazing!
UNREQUITED.
When I saw that
word in the title I went bananas, because hello, don’t we always see HAPPILY
EVER AFTER, not UNREQUITED? I thought, if anyone can do UNREQUITED justice, it
is Albertalli.
UNREQUITED was my middle name for all of my teen years and most of
my twenties. Molly has twenty-six crushes by age 17. That number should be higher, right? My first crush
came at eight. Snow White would never reciprocate my love for her, it was completely
one-sided. Unanswered. Unreturned. Unrequited. And that was just the first of
many.
I wanted more of Molly’s unrequited
stories. We heard about some of the 26 crushes, even giggled over the clever
names she gave them, and followed her jump-to-conclusion
moments of “unrequited” for each crush. By the time we met Will and Reid, we were desperate for Molly to find love.
Will there be another book where we
find out what happens to Mina and Cassie? Molly and the boy? Olivia???? All of these relationships to ponder.
Talk
about UNREQUITED.
3.) I would love Albertalli's writing as I had in Simon.
Albertalli knows how to write a character that is smart, funny, and insecure. She
takes an ordinary cast of characters and gives them dimension. She
makes us want to follow them around. Explore their town. Watch them fail and
then hopefully succeed. She did this for Simon. Did she do this for Molly?
Hell, yes.
In both books, Albertalli
gives us main characters to care about. She gives us rich families and friendships in both
books as well. The moms in Upside of Unrequited were genuine.
I loved the driving scene with Nadine and Molly:
“It’s weird, right? Cassie having a
girlfriend.”
“She’s not technically her girlfriend.”
Nadine grins. “I give it a week.”
That makes me laugh, but there’s also
this sad sort of tug in my chest.
“Yeah, it’s weird,” I say.
“I know. Oh man, Momo. This is a tough
one.” She nods, still looking at the road. “You know, growing up, my brother
was such a dickwad, but your aunt Karen and I were really close. And I remember
this. I remember when she got a boyfriend, and she just fell off the grid. It
sucked.”
“Yeah.”
“And no one warns you about this. No one
tells you how hard it is, because, yay, love! And we’re so happy for them! But
there’s this sharp edge to it, right? Because yeah, you’re happy for them. But
you’ve also lost them.”
My heart twists. I can’t speak.
“But Mo, they come back to us. You know?
You roll with it. It’s weird for a while. But they come back. You’ll get her
back.”
I tuck my knees up and stare out the
window. We’re almost at Dupont, heading downtown. And there are so many people
out. There’s this palpable energy in the air. It’s the kind of night where
strangers start hugging and everyone’s drunk and loud and happy just to be in
the middle of all of this. I bet people will remember today, even when they’re
old. I bet I will, too.
“Pretty wild,” Nadine says.
“Yeah.” I nod. And suddenly, I feel like
crying, but not in a bad way. More like in the way you feel when someone gives
you a perfect present—something you’d been wanting, but thought you couldn’t
ask for. It’s that feeling of someone knowing you in all the ways you needed to
be known.
Becky Albertalli is quickly becoming a favorite voice in this genre.
I
eagerly await her next book.
Much love,
Alison
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