The Inside of Out
by Jenn Marie Thorne
I was
COMPLETELY DONE with this review and then Word died, the file became corrupt
and all I was left with was a page with my name repeated over and over and
over. I am hoping that there isn’t a
life metaphor in these events as it has been a pretty shitty couple of
days. (look at the date)
Anyway… let’s
try this again shall we? Daisy is a sixteen-year-old whose best friend Hannah
comes out to her the day before their senior year. Daisy was to be supportive. She also has the tact and subtly of a nuclear
bomb. And that bomb pretty much changes
everything about how sees herself and the people around her.
I found
the scenes where Daisy was avoiding driving or hanging out with Hannah and her
new girlfriend especially relatable. I
am pretty sure that I would have acted the same way if my best friend started
dating someone who has spent years bullying me.
I would have avoided them so hard that the awkwardness would have been
visible from space
90% of
Daisy’s problems seem to come from the fact that she cannot shut up. She is like an extrovert on steroids.
However, ridiculous her situation becomes her mouth seems to constantly be
trying to one up her. She is also pushed
into other situations because she is comfortable with attention and others are
not. Several of the character in the
book as her if she is doing any of this for attention. She isn’t always sure but I didn’t see it
that way. The situation really stems from
the fact that Daisy is trying desperately
to connect with her best friend who is becoming more and more distant. The irony is that her actions are causing
much of the distance which increases her desperation which increases the distance. Vicious cycle.
Things that
I liked: I liked the casual diversity,
Daisy’s parents (especially her gamer father), as well the way Thorne avoided
being lazy and made her supporting characters multidimensional. I like how she avoided cliché. I also enjoyed
how lowkey her romantic relationship was.
I like that it was two people gradually becoming closer rather than a
telenovela level of passion. I wish that
she has been in her senior year of high school and 17 or 18 rather than 16
because I wasn’t super comfortable with the age difference between her and Adam. It didn’t seem creepy but two and half years
is a huge gap when you are that young.
There are
many excellent books about the LGBTQIA but not many touch
this closely on allyship and how it can go terribly wrong even with the best of
intentions. The reader is left with the
idea that to be an ally you have to listen to what people are saying rather
than try to speak for them. I think that
we can all learn from that. Setting aside all the heavy thematic stuff, I found
this book, funny, heartfelt, and an engaging read.
From Goodreads:
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