LitPick Review
Almost Normal, written by Staz, is a young adult novel about the life of a young girl and her struggle to balance her life after it took a whole new turn. The story introduces Betsy Kimmel, a teenage girl who had to switch schools after her mother's tragic death. Her change from a small Catholic school to a public one was quite unbearable for her, as she experienced emotional swings that sometimes made her want to hide away from the world and other times yearn for someone to understand her feelings. Worse still, her father was a heavy drinker who wasted his time with his new girlfriend, leaving Betsy to care for her brother. Along the way, she also learned about the cause of her mother's death bringing more pain to her. However, despite these clashing feelings and the bullying she was receiving at school, she began to see that her new self and environment was not as complicated as it seemed. At school, she met students with their version of complicated lives, and she observed classmates who, just like her, did not fit in socially. This made her believe in the thought that she still has the power to reclaim her old self and still navigate the new version of her life while trying to cope with the uncomfortable stages of adolescence. In doing so, it led her to becoming “normal” again even when life does not go as expected.
Opinion:
Almost Normal is a coming-of-age story that centers on Betsy's transition from being a reserved girl to expressing herself while exploring core themes and tones like grief, adjustment and belonging, and friendship. Grief, which was among the main themes, was used in a very realistic way. Staz demonstrated this emotion as an attachment that followed Betsy, affecting even her relationship with people and even the way she perceived herself, instead of treating it as a feeling that comes and disappears immediately. It made her heart heavy and pushed her to confront her new self, leading to an influence in her choices and interactions with people. To cope with this emotion, Staz gave Betsy some companions, that is, characters who posed as friends that shared the same emotional sentiment as her. Her friends, who were the combination of a foster girl who had experienced neglect and an exchange student who fought with cultural change, were the best pair for her. Through them, Betsy learned that grief was not just a feeling of sadness, but it encompassed fear, silence, and anger.
Another theme that was carefully portrayed was adjustment and belonging. I saw Betsy’s adjustment to her new school as a struggle because everything felt foreign to her and her identity changed when she was being referred to as the “new girl.” While at home, I noticed things were quiet, and with the death of her mother, she saw her family as incomplete. Belonging explained the part where she tried fitting in. It was not easy at first since she felt like a complete outsider, but after some time, she made friends and found that she did not have to act according to what others wanted; she only needed to be herself to be able to connect with others.
Friendship was a theme used by the author as a means of character development. It was through this that Betsy found the force that brought her back to reality and helped her to express herself. More importantly, it closed the gap between her old self and her newfound life. The theme also served as a careful reminder to me that friendship can result from anywhere, especially unexpected places. For Betsy, her friend, the foster girl, had her life filled with difficulties, and the exchange student faced a problem of his own. However, they both assisted Betsy to understand herself and reflect on her ability to trust, as well as develop emotional maturity. I loved how Staz did not make their relationship look perfect; instead, he included imperfections that resulted from background differences, misunderstandings, and so on, making the story feel real and relatable.
Betsy Kimmel, the main character, stood as the core of the story, with her struggles creating a tone that felt gentle and reflective. Her life can be referred to as a lens that demonstrates how pain can disengage a person and pull them apart from the world. It also showed how the emotional growth of young ones can be influenced by the things they face.
Almost Normal was a warm and approachable novel that elucidates teenage feelings and conflicts without rewriting the genre. It is a book I recommend to middle grade and young adult readers who are also going through any sort of relatable change since they would find Betsy's journey to be comforting. Also, educators and librarians searching for grief-related books including social adjustment novels to recommend to students, can also get this. Lastly, contemporary fiction fans who enjoyed reading books like The Fault in our Stars by John Green will also love this.
