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Am I normal yet?
433 pages
A fiercely funny, deeply empathetic exploration of mental health, feminist awakenings, and the life-saving power of cheesy snacks and true friends.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like sitting in a messy bedroom with your smartest, funniest friends, eating junk food and finally telling them your deepest secrets. It balances the claustrophobic, exhausting reality of severe OCD with a bright, fierce warmth that makes the heavy moments bearable. The narrative voice is incredibly engaging, wry, self-aware, and desperate to just be normal, pulling you through the story at a brisk, conversational pace. You are plunged directly into the protagonist's anxious mind, experiencing her intrusive thoughts alongside her feminist awakenings and teenage milestones. It is a raw, heart-rending, yet ultimately hopeful experience that will deeply resonate with anyone who has ever felt broken, celebrating the profound, healing magic of unapologetic female friendship.
- Mood
- anxious
- warm
- intimate
- hopeful
- Tone
- wry
- vulnerable
- fiercely honest
- humorous
- earnest
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- the myth of normalcy · power of female friendship · feminist awakening · living with mental illness · teenage vulnerability
- The writing
- Conversational and sharp, seamlessly shifting between witty, fast-paced banter and the claustrophobic, relentless loops of intrusive thoughts.
- The arc
- Moves from a desperate, exhausting attempt to mask illness and appear normal to a messy, beautiful acceptance of vulnerability and support.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave a fiercely feminist, laugh-out-loud funny, yet unflinchingly real portrayal of mental health and the life-saving power of female friendship.
Content notes
- OCD and intrusive thoughts
- panic attacks
- mental health relapse
- sexism and misogyny
About the book
Evie, Amber and Lottie: three girls facing down tough issues with the combined powers of friendship, feminism and cheesy snacks. Both hilarious and heart-rending, this is Evie's no-holds-barred story of struggling to live a normal teen life in the grip of OCD, from the acclaimed author of The Manifesto on How to be Interesting.
Description from Open Library.
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