Anatomy of a Misfit

by Andrea Portes

ANATOMY OF A MISFIT is like the perfect blend of the movie Heathers and Mean Girls if John Hughes had directed them.

I don't normally comment on dedications and acknowledgments in book reviews, but they ended up weighing heavily on my mind as I finished this book. The dedication reads: "For Dylan. This is a novel based on my ninth-grade year of junior high. I wrote this story because I wish I could go back in time and give this message to myself." Here's the thing, the dedication made me read this book on a personal level, calling up my own regrets from high school and rooting all the more for Anika when she found ways to do what the author didn't (what I didn't). And the acknowledgment at the very end (which I won't share because it's kind of spoiler-y) made me cry because there is a reality behind this fictional story that broke my heart to pieces.

So emotional gut punches. Yep, there are plenty. But this book also made me laugh out loud, then cringe, then want to throttle people for being so evil and shake the bystanders for standing by and doing nothing, then laugh out loud again. This is not a simple book, but it is wildly entertaining and equally thought provoking. I guarantee you that there will be parts of this book that offend you (probably more than a few). There will be parts that maybe outrage you from a moral standpoint (whatever that may be). There will be other parts that make you cheer and make you cry, and make you want this book to go on and on and simultaneously end so you can finally breath again.

And the voice of Ankia! Oh the voice! This whole book is like the most intimate of intimate conversations with your best friend. It feels secretive and shocking and conspiratorial and the entire time it's like Anika is talking directly to you:

"My boss doesn’t know I’ve been poisoning him.
Don’t be jealous but Shelli and I got a job at the Bunza Hut. We get to wear lemon-colored fake polos, Kelly-green shorts, and banana LA Gear sneakers. We get to wear this every. Shift."

Seriously. Just stop reading this review and read this book. Go. Right now.