#104 The Upside of Unrequited, a little book review

Hello, it's been a while ...nope not going to apologise...I've heard bloggers shouldn't apologise for not posting...so it's not going to happen (okay I'm sorry!! I've been busy with uni and I didn't know what to post)...
Okay, I'm done!

Today's post is a little review of The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli and I'm so excited to share this with you because I LOVED this book!






















I've read a couple of really great books recently (one of them being Keris Stainton's One Italian Summer please read it!!)

I also recently finished reading The Upside of Unrequited, this is the first book of Becky's I've read (she also wrote Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda) and I truly adored Upside!

The book is a first-person narrative via Molly - 17 years old, 26 crushes, never been kissed.

"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... it's almost unfathomable that it happens as often as it does."

I adored Molly, I don't think I've related to a character as much as I did to Molly so I send my thanks to Becky for creating her!

“I’ve had crushes on 26 people, 25 of whom are not Lin-Manual Miranda.”


There is SO much diversity in this wonderful little book:
☆ Korean-American pansexual side character
☆ Multiple lesbian side characters (including Molly's parents and twin sister)
☆ Bisexual side character
☆ Minor gay characters
☆ Jewish main character, side characters and love interest
☆ Molly has two mums
☆ Multiple black side characters
☆ Fat main character


art by Simini Blocker on tumblr (x)


















The Upside also deals with mental health and self-esteem. Molly suffers from anxiety, which she takes medication for. Throughout the book, it's discussed how her attending parties is for as well as the dangers of mixing medication with alcohol.

Molly suffers low self-esteem and feels a bit like the left one out. Although she does become more excepting of herself after she gains a boyfriend, her grandmother who is always bringing down also helps when she calls Molly beautiful, the whole scene was really lovely and heartwarming.
























I also loved how openly the book discussed relationships, in YA we're very used to seeing a girl desperate for a boyfriend but this book had that little extra bit of something! The characters (mainly Molly's twin sister Cassie) discussed sex openly and we see how Molly is reluctant in terms of the subject, stemming from I think a mix of her low self-esteem and also her fear of rejection which we see multiple times throughout the book.

"Because chubby girls don't get boyfriends, and they definitely don't have sex. Not in movies -- not really -- unless it's supposed to be a joke. And I don't want to be a joke."


I think one of my favourite running themes throughout Upside was the family dynamic! The Peskin-Suso family are made up of Molly, Cassie, baby Xavier and their mums Nadine and Patty. Molly and Cassie are sperm donor babies to Nadine and Patty (interracial and one of which is bisexual). 















Throw in their grandma - who like a lot of YA grandmothers is hilarious, loving and says hurtful things without really meaning it or thinking it through! I can only hope the grandma in my work in progress is on the same path!
The family felt real, except for a few tiny things but it's a fiction novel so what do you expect!

Overall I gave The Upside of Unrequited four stars and I'm definitely popping Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda) on my ever growing TBR!

Also, I'm fully on board with Reid's love of Mini Eggs!

Comments

  1. Hey!

    Nice blog (: I just started mine up and was looking for a few relative friends in the book world! I have a Booktube channel too. Also, There is a giveaway currently going on and I will be posting more as soon as I finish editing a few videos.

    Thanks and I hop you like my blog! :*

    ReplyDelete

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