Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

Made You Up

by Francesca Zappia

Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be-sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. For fans of Silver Linings Playbook and Liar, this thought-provoking debut tells the story of Alex, a high school senior-and the ultimate unreliable narrator-unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. Alex fights a daily battle to figure out what is real and what is not. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8 Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She's pretty optimistic about her chances until she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She's not prepared for normal. Can she trust herself? Can we trust her?

Reviewed by Angie on

3 of 5 stars

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Alex has Paranoid Schizophrenia, so she has trouble telling what's real and what's a hallucination. She has ways of coping and figuring out what's just in her head, but in Made You Up, things are getting really blurred. Alex starts at a new school after being kicked out of her old one, but her mom actually wants to send her to a hospital where she can get a better grasp on reality. On top of all that, Alex suddenly meets the boy that she thought she imagined when she was seven years old. Is he really there, or did her mind just conjure him up again?

I liked Made You Up. Alex was a great narrator. She's definitely unreliable, but there are some scenes where you can tell it's one of her delusions. But for the most part, I was never really 100% sure anything was real. Even when Alex used her trusty "take a photo" method. It's obvious that someone in her life isn't real, and I honestly wasn't expecting it to be who it was. I was shocked, and then I was mad. Someone should have told her! Alex is struggling enough without people playing along.

The one thing that bothered me about Made You Up, was that it felt long. It is over 400 pages, which normally isn't a problem for me. It's just that there's random plot points that felt like filler, and had no connection to the overall story. It was almost as if the author wanted to throw extra stuff at us to confuse us even more about what's really happening. Well, it didn't confuse me other than me wondering what the point of it all was. It was just a bit silly and added nothing to the story for me.

Made You Up was still a very good read though. I enjoyed being part of Alex's world. She's very smart, as is Miles, so I adored all of their interactions. They go from antagonistic and playing pranks on each other, to playing silly guessing games, and finally a sweet romance blossoms. I do kind of wish that the focus had been more on Alex dealing with her schizophrenia and how that affects her graduating from high school, moving on to college, etc, rather than the story feeling like a guessing game of who's real and who's not.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 14 December, 2015: Finished reading
  • 14 December, 2015: Reviewed