Reviewed by KitsuneBae on
Albertalli is now getting promoted from my Author Watch list to my Favorite Authors List. Though I enjoyed The Homo Sapiens Agenda more (Simon and Blue FTW), The Upside of Unrequited has its own charm to draw in readers to its universe. The whole set up of the story was very enjoyable, realistic, and an eye opener. So the story is about a seventeen year old girl, Molly Peskin-Suso. She’s a food lover, is fat, very creative, and has lots of crushes but surprisingly, none of them got to be her boyfriend. Her parents are lesbian and bisexual. Molly and her fraternal twin sister, Cassie, are sperm donor babies so is their younger baby brother.
The main theme of The Upside of Unrequited is not really about romance nor about LGBT struggles. It’s really about Molly’s coming of age, about her navigating life and finding her place. Molly’s a very good narrator and my 17 year old self could really relate with her jealousy, anxieties, doubts, and shyness. The whole time I was reading the book, I was either laughing, crying or nodding in approval because every thought, every struggle that Molly has to experience was very relatable. Everything felt so realistic and I’m glad that Albertalli didn’t glorify the life of teenager or inserted some dramatic, dark, and horrible stuff somewhere in between. It is what it is.
So people, young or old, you better read this because we all have a Molly in us at some point of our lives.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 12 January, 2017: Finished reading
- 12 January, 2017: Reviewed