A Shot at Normal

by Marisa Reichardt

I'm kind of sick of the pandemic so it surprised me when I saw this book on the topic of anti-vaxxers and really wanted to read it. I probably wouldn't have if it was about COVID itself, but being on the peripheral it interested me just enough to pick it up.

I'm glad I did. It was really good. Juniper is a fantastic character. She can be a bit whiny (but what teen isn't?) but overall she was a pretty mature teen who was haunted by the decisions her parents have made for her and looking to atone for the outcome.

I felt really sorry for her to be honest. I mean for all she keeps saying I killed, I was at fault - she was a victim too. Especially when she's blamed by everyone else - after all she goes and tries to get vaccinated and gets told she needs parental permission - she goes to a bunch of different lawyers and gets told she needs parental permission. Well if you need parental permission, the need to blame shouldn't be taken out on Juniper. It probably doesn't help that I'm a pro vaxxer - I was 100% on Juniper's side.

It also didn't help that her parents are set up to be narrow minded and caricatures of anti-vaxxers. They were immature brats who had only one train of thought, no matter who approached them - and yes, there probably are people like this, but a person is more than one thing. I don't feel the author did a good job of conveying that here. I mean the parents give her silent treatment. They completely freeze Juniper out when they don't get their own way. There are two younger siblings in the house that are affected by the tension. It irritated me that they cared so little about that - when Juniper was doing everything she could to minimise the tension - she's supposed to be the child for godsakes.

I really liked her grandparents though. I wanted to see more of them and for them to hear the whole story and chip in their opinion but we never really get to see that confrontation happen. I think an actual discussion with the entire family (or at least the adults and Juniper) would've been really interesting and would've add more depth to the parents and their viewpoints.

I did like that Juniper wins her court case but I wasn't impressed with the parents reactions to it - and I wasn't pleased with the ending. It was too abrupt. I wanted to see more of the aftermath. How do they resolve things between them? Because it definitely wasn't as simple as getting the shots and moving on. Especially when they'd been ignoring her prior to.

I loved Nico and Juniper's relationship with him. It was sweet and fun and added a lightheartedness to the text that allowed it to explore the anti-vaxxer issue without it being too heavy. I enjoyed Nico teaching Juniper about teen pop culture and classic movies. And his mum was brilliant. And so was Laurel. I loved that Laurel was willing to support Juniper in her choices and help her to prepare her court case.

Overall an enjoyable read about a controversial issue. 4 stars.