Review #2 - It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

I was nervous before reading this book.

Last year round April I had read a lot of depression books by accident like The Bell Jar, The Virgin Suicides, everything I read contained suicide in it, Every Day, A Working Theory of Love. I didn't like this. I just went off these books because I didn't want to read about suicide over and over again. So I knew Ned Vizzini had recently passed away and I was scared this would be another Bell Jar.

It was beautiful. It wasn't depressing, it was uplifting. It gave me hope and still was about depression and I loved this.

He spoke so truthfully and I recognised myself in some of the earlier passages of the book even though I haven't dealt with most of the things in the book. There were just these parallels with my lifestyle, especially last year and the schooling and I did relate to Craig. I think that is the most impressive part of Vizzini's writing. He paints people as people, not as characters, not as people who have a mental illness but people.

I loved loved loved the maps and the references to his childhood and just this beautiful enthusiasm for art and creating which I lost last year in the midst of Art GCSE. It reminded me of what I'd lost. I used to be so creative and all I did was create art and read in my spare time and that's not there anymore. 

Could this become the world's top depression-novel-with-authors-that-ended-their-life-afterwards? I think if people stopper heralding The Bell Jar as this beautiful piece of fiction (and it's really not) then I think that, yes, maybe this could. I would love it if it did. This book is made from sadness but it makes you feel like it is about happiness. And isn't that what we need from a depression novel? Not electrocution, not a slow decent into whatever you can call the second half of The Bell Jar, but happiness.

I just think that matters.

Five stars.

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Review #3 - Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

As a general rule, I don't like soppy teen romance. I don't like soppy romance. I don't like romance novels with their 2D characters and the predictability and the fact that when I finish the book I don't feel like I've achieved anything. Did I like Anna and the French Kiss?

No. I loved it.

Anna is an American girl sent to an American boarding school in Paris for senior year. Throw in her super hot best friend and adventures in Paris and you have Anna and the French Kiss.

I was gripped immediately but it took me until thanksgiving to warm to the characters as people. That is probably my only complaint with this book. Oh and I had a little bit of trouble with the "nasty" girl. (When girls are nasty they do not name call. They undermine your confidence in a toxic way and make you doubt yourself. Their greatest weapon is you.) However everything that I don't like about romance and this book's clichéd flaws actually warm me to the book.

The characters had faults. 3D female characters with both strength and love and that was amazing. I feel often as a feminist that I can't feel certain things because it's not supporting my views as a feminist but this book makes these gorgeous characters that bust these myths. Anna is wonderful and oh so relatable as a teenage girl. She is smart and has interests in films and Paris.

At first I was wary about the text and how it was written. I am not a fan of capital letters in novels. Capitals are strictly reserved for Sherlock Tumblr posts and Facebook chat. I'm not big on exclamation marks in text. Ever. Anna and the French Kiss pulls this off somehow because you are reading Anna's inner monolouge and she sounds like me and other girls I know and no other book quite captires being a teenage girl like this book.

I went to Paris when I was 14 and I was in love with the idea of Paris and the Eiffel Tower and little streets. Paris let me down a bit. It was dirty (oh so dirty) and the way the metro gates slam scared me. This book portrays Paris well and not just in that Devil Wears Prada way. Also I have an incredible passion for London. This book portrays this passion but for Paris. I loved the way it promoted enthusiasm. As a teenager it is regarded as "cool" to not get enthusiastic. This book was enthusiastic.

The best thing about this book is the aftermath. That warm glow inside of you. A glorious ecstatic feeling. You feel like you are in love and that is glorious.

I gave this five stars.

A must read.

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