The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson
Louise Wilkes
13:28:00
0
Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)
Two boys. Two secrets.
David Piper has always been an outsider. His parents think he’s gay. The school bully thinks he’s a freak. Only his two best friends know the real truth – David wants to be a girl.
On the first day at his new school Leo Denton has one goal – to be invisible. Attracting the attention of the most beautiful girl in year eleven is definitely not part of that plan.
When Leo stands up for David in a fight, an unlikely friendship forms. But things are about to get messy. Because at Eden Park School secrets have a funny habit of not staying secret for long…
David Piper has always been an outsider. His parents think he’s gay. The school bully thinks he’s a freak. Only his two best friends know the real truth – David wants to be a girl.
On the first day at his new school Leo Denton has one goal – to be invisible. Attracting the attention of the most beautiful girl in year eleven is definitely not part of that plan.
When Leo stands up for David in a fight, an unlikely friendship forms. But things are about to get messy. Because at Eden Park School secrets have a funny habit of not staying secret for long…
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| Image from KittyPann |
The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson
Publishined January 7th 2016 by David Fickling Books
Paperback 357 Pages
This 2016 YA Book Prize Nominee has been given countless critical acclaim. I cannot say I agree, something that has sat really unwell with me. In the story, the main protagonist is David who ultimately wants to be a woman. The issue with this book is not the idea, in fact that was what attracted me to the book in the first place. The issue for me is that both David and Leo, the misunderstood boy from a bad home, are supposed to be sixteen. For you Americans out there, year 11 is the last year of school, yet these characters talk as if they ten years old.
Publishined January 7th 2016 by David Fickling Books
Paperback 357 Pages
This 2016 YA Book Prize Nominee has been given countless critical acclaim. I cannot say I agree, something that has sat really unwell with me. In the story, the main protagonist is David who ultimately wants to be a woman. The issue with this book is not the idea, in fact that was what attracted me to the book in the first place. The issue for me is that both David and Leo, the misunderstood boy from a bad home, are supposed to be sixteen. For you Americans out there, year 11 is the last year of school, yet these characters talk as if they ten years old.
That being said, I had another issue with this book. David is transgender, he is defined by that. That is his whole personality and that important to me that my character was a person. That can sound weird because obviously characters are ultimately made him two dimensional and flat. Leo too was a stereotype. Every character fit into these perfectly formed categories of how "kids" apparently act. I was sixteen not that long ago, I still remember what it was like and it doesn't feel from the writing that Williamson does remember.
Williamson is not a bad writer, the book has many redeeming qualities but none as important as attempting to tell a very difficult story, but the most important moments were ignored whether from fear of messing them up or creating emphasis by ignoring them.
Suffice to say I was unable to finish the book because the character development just wasn't there. I wasn't rooting for anyone because I didn't care and with such an emotionally raw and complex idea, it should have been.
#sorrynotsorry
Happy Reading
