Book Review: The Art of Being Normal

Book: The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Description:

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 his class 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, and soon everyone knows that Leo used to be a girl.

As David prepares to come out to his family and transition into life as a girl and Leo wrestles with figuring out how to deal with people who try to define him through his history, they find in each other the friendship and support they need to navigate life as transgender teens as well as the courage to decide for themselves what normal really means.



Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Friendship and secrets merge in The Art of Being Normal where the first person narrative really places you right into the story. Usually in first person, the story sometimes suffers from too much telling and not enough showing but this story is a wonderful combination of both. It really made me feel everything the characters were feeling be it happiness, anxiety, anger to everything in between. But you also really feel for these characters and what they are going through.

In this very riveting story set in the UK, it follows two students, 14 years old David Piper and 15 years old Leo Denton. At the age of eight, David knew he wanted to be a girl. He never felt like a boy but he is too afraid to tell his parents how he feels. The only ones who know what he's feeling are his two best friends, Essie and Felix. But even that doesn't help with feeling like he's not normal.

Meanwhile, Leo who transferred to David's school Eden Park was looking for a fresh start. It's clear from the beginning that Leo has a huge chip on his shoulder and was dealing with anger issues. He really just wanted to be left alone, he was happy to revel in the rumors spreading about him at school because it kept the other students away from him. However, meeting Alicia Baker and stopping David from being bullied immediately brought about two changes in his life. Although, he and Alicia were starting to date you could tell that Leo was holding something back. That revelation added another layer to a growing friendship between David and Leo but may have caused a problem in Leo's relationship with Alicia. Things go from bad to worse when the whole school finds out about Leo's secret. But what I love is that through it all, David never stopped being a good friend.

The Art of Being Normal although fictional gives the reader a look at what it might feel like for some transgender teens who are trying to find themselves as they go through the process of becoming who they truly are.

This was very well-written with an engaging story that's filled with heartfelt writing and characters that feel so real that you can't help rooting for them. You just want somehow for everything to turn out right for both David and Leo.

I enjoyed reading this so much that I'm going to buy a copy for myself (I read the ARC). I don't usually do this but I highly recommend giving this a read. It's a good story.