Everyone’s on the cliff edge of normal. Everyone finds life an utter nightmare sometimes, and there’s no “normal” way of dealing with it. There’s only what’s normal to you.” Holly Bourne did an excellent job of creating a character who is dealing with OCD, whilst desperately trying to live a normal, teenage life. Of inspiring empathy into the reader, celebrating differences and just accepting people as they are. Flaws and all. The girls are amazing! Evie, Amber and Lottie form a gang called the The Spinster Club to help figure out how to be a feminist. They aim to stay true to themselves, and not lose their personality or their friends while trying to impress guys, and at the same time not being ball breakers! It was such a fun theme but also very powerful and inspiring. Wow! Am I Normal Yet by Holly Bourne slammed me to the ground with all the feels. It broke my heart, made me roar with laughter, made me determined to fight more about feminist issues and most of all enlightened me about OCD.

This book is all about feminism and 16 years old cisgender girls realizing that the society isn’t that perfect for them. Most of the time, they were talking about really important subjects and were making some very good points. I already knew most of it but it’s still is necessary to discuss about it all in literature, especially in YA. However, they made some comments that made me cringe a lot. It is important to note that all the characters are white and straight. As they kept talking about feminism, it has been said a lot that only women had their periods and that it’s what makes them women. By saying that, it excludes transgender and non-binary people. Because yes, some men have their periods and they should be recognized as well. Plus, they often make each other feel bad for talking about men, as if dating one was against feminism. I really disliked that. I’m a feminist but I’m also a romantic and I love to talk about men. I would love to date one and if all I see suddenly is him, so be it. That doesn’t mean I don’t respect myself or women in general. It was really hard to agree to everything when they kept excluding people from their feminism. Floored, novel by Eleanor Wood, Holly Bourne, Lisa Williamson, Melinda Salisbury, Non Pratt, Sara Barnard, and Tanya Byrne (2018)I started this book for two reasons, one being that Holly Bourne will be attending YALC 2018 in London, where I am going in a few weeks, and the other being my friend Roxanne who told me to do so. And so I did.

Bourne is a former news journalist, and was nominated for Best Print Journalist of the Year in 2010 [18] while working as a news reporter at the Surrey Mirror. [4] She graduated from the University of Sheffield [19] with a first-class degree in Journalism. [20] Bibliography [ edit ] Standalone novels [ edit ] Evie and her companions all make for a typical teenage life (presented beautifully), and in a way Am I Normal Yet? is just that: it’s a teenage girl living life. The fact that it is just a book that shows a teenage girl living life again highlights that OCD is a trait, it is not a person. If I was 15 or 16, reading this for the first time would have blown my mind. But now I'm in my early 20s, I've lived too many situations, I've seen too many things happening and I've read too many books and essays to let this story impact my person.Overall I'm in love with this book and it tipped my TBR over the edge, as I now need to read all the Holly Bourne books. The great news is that this is the first book in a series. Each one focusing on a different member of The Spinster Club and I can't wait to read on. I made a promise earlier this year that if a book made an epilepsy joke I would immediately DNF it. Epilepsy jokes aren't funny. Do you know what it's like to wonder if your mum will wake up with brain damage? If she will even remember you? If she will even wake up? My single mother was diagnosed with grand mal seizures almost five years ago. I was 14 at the time. I was a baby. I had to call an ambulance and talk to a paramedic while helping my mum. This wasn't her first seizure (that had been when I was 10), but it was the one that started the beginning of her epilepsy. Anywho, I've ranted enough. I adored the friendship between Evie, Amber, and Lottie! They're the type of friend group I wish I had grouping up (and still do, to be honest). They talked about real stuff, not just the stereotypical 'girly' gossip, etc. It was a true feminist group, and should be shown to everyone out there - old, young; male, female - to show just what feminism is. This story missed the mark for me a bit because of too many side characters and it was just too meta. Too ironic. The characters know that they shouldn't be obsessing over boys so much, but they do anyway. I mean they literally discuss in the narrative that they should not be doing this while complaining boys are trash. The humor I think is known as "British humor" and it's kinda close to my type of humor, but not really. The humor added a very distinct tone to this story that I've never seen in any other book. I did get a very interesting message out of this story. In Am I Normal Yet?, Evie is about to start college. After just scrapping by with a few GCSEs, she feels as if now is the right time to reduce her medication for her OCD, and try to be 'normal'. She has a plan: not let anyone know she was the 'girl who went crazy', make friends, and maybe get a boyfriend? As her dosage slowly get lower and lower, she is confronted with the need to tell her friends about her history, and how to overcoming the urges and anxiety that is returning.