Book Review

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This book is certainly for teenagers. Its funny, witty and the characters all deal with common problems teenagers face. Emmy, the first character has an eating disorder and is reeling from a social media incident, she is also Chinese with white American parents.

Then comes Justin who suffers from depression and the fact his Dad is not exactly father of the year. Then come the side characters, Diane who has a major violence problem and Mohammed who pretends to be different people because he doesn’t like the real him.

The story unfolds in a steady paced way and there are moments of comedy as well as poignant moments in the book as five strangers come together in a school for troubled kids and try and make the best of it. However, for me I struggled to root for any one character as none of them seemed very likeable. I’m not sure if this was how the characters were purposefully written or just the way they come across, but most of them seemed like precocious American rich kids full of stereotypes and cliches.

Overall I read the book all the way through and am sure its a great read for teenagers who can maybe connect to the characters a little more. I think of myself as a teenager a lot when reading this book but my adolescent experience was luckily a little easier and peaceful.

Which are the best books you have read aimed at the teenage age group?