Finding Audrey
Finding Audrey
Sophie Kinsella
Finding Audrey, by Sophie Kinsella, is a story that will make you smile throughout. Audrey, the main character, suffers from social anxiety, which makes it hard for her to live a normal everyday life. Audrey can't even leave the house, never mind taking off her dark sunglasses. That is, until her brother's friend Linus stumbles into her life. With his friendly, orange-slice smile and his funny notes, he starts to entice Audrey out again. Together, they face phase one of recovery, Starbucks. And with Linus at her side, Audrey feels like she can do the things she'd thought were too scary. Suddenly, finding her way back to the real world seems achievable. From simply stepping outside to house, to taking off her sunglasses, Audrey’s road to normality is a rocky one, but is oh so worth it.
Finding Audrey is funny, sweet, heartwarming but also is a honest look at a teenage girl living with social anxiety. One of my favourite things about this book is that it's about one of those families. The one that’s loud, crazy, often torn apart by arguments, but ultimately very close and loving towards one another. The dynamics Kinsella creates between the members of Audrey's family make this book a lot funnier, but also creates touching moments. Most stories about mental illness recoveries, especially if it includes touches of loves, show a damaging and untrue message of “love cures everything” But, although Linus offers support and friendship to Audrey, the author doesn't allow that message to seep through. Kinsella shows recovery from mental illness as a long process of two steps forward and one step back. Even at the novel's close, Audrey has not been miraculously cured. I liked that the book was a good balance of light-hearted silly humour and hard realism. It was really effective. My one complaint is that at some parts the story seemed to be moving too fast. The process to recovery, although I knew was over a long time, was written in a way that personally seemed too fast. But that doesn’t stop me from saying it was a good book, and I don’t regret reading it.
Grade Level:
- Suggested: 5th-8th
- Advanced: 4th
- Genre: Realistic-fiction
- Key Elements: Social anxiety, recovery
- Possible Themes: Recovery is two steps forward, one step back, but don’t let that stop you
Overall Rating:4/5
Happy Reading!
-The Book Lover-
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