The Upside of Unrequited

“Here's what I would never, ever admit out loud: a part of me always thought it was some kind of secret compliment when someone got called a slut. It meant you were having sex. Which meant people wanted to have sex with you. Being a slut just meant you were normal. But I think maybe I'm wrong about that.”

I've been looking forward to reading this for months, however it turned out to be quite disappointing. I adored her first book which is why I had such high expectations for this one and I was surprised to find it lacked the charm (almost completely) and the humor of its predecessor.

I truly appreciated that there was a diverse set of characters, unfortunately this couldn't save the story which was not very compelling to me. Coming back to the characters. They represent people of different skin color, sexuality, religion etc. which gets a thumbs up but other than that they were pretty bland. We didn't get to hear much from them except for Molly and that was unfortunate because I still didn't know who Molly was, even at the end.

I know she was a very insecure, anxious girl due to her weight and mental health which is something I can empathize with, however she was mainly a girl who's only thoughts revolved around that fact that she'd never had a boyfriend and she really wanted one. I didn't like how this was handled at all. She was so obsessed about this that when she did end up in a relationship it didn't feel organic, instead it felt like she finally found a way to get validation from other people, in this case a guy who finally liked her back. Which is something that usually happens in a young, inexperienced girl's life, it's normal, but I don't why we get to see it portrayed in a novel as romantic and an example of “yes, this is a good”.

I didn't get why she would like any of the guys. There's so much telling but almost no showing. We're told they're either sweet or funny and that they like photography or Tolkien and whatnot but we spend so little time with them that I just don't get why she would like one over another other than the fact that one likes her back and one doesn't.

I also don't see why anyone would like her. Sure we're told that she's gorgeous despite being chubby, but she's so insecure and obsessed with boys that we only see a very unflattering side of hers where she's constantly bitter and jealous of others for being in relationships. We don't spend enough time seeing her meaningfully interact with other people or working through her issues for her to be truly fleshed out. So even though I've empathized with her for her body issues, I couldn't find any other reason for me to care about or root for her. I also needed more of her relationship with her sister. We were told that they were very close in the past but I didn't get to see that so I honestly, couldn't care very much about they're relationship getting cold.

I don't get how this is meant to be empowering. Molly does little other than pining and obsessing over guys until she finally finds one that likes her back and has the guts to say so. This was supposed to be a journey of overcoming insecurities and achieving self acceptance but there was zero development when it comes to her character, the only difference at the end is that she now has someone to call boyfriend. So if you can't love yourself for who you are (at least generally) find a guy to do that for you? What kind of message is that? I've been a teenager, an insecure shy teenager actually and I've had plenty of crushes and unrequited affection but even my teenage self would go, “Ok, Molly, you have to take it down a notch, find some purpose and interests you're truly invested in (not ones you only use as a crotch to temporarily forget that you don't have a boyfriend) because, girl, this is not healthy.”

I have to say though, on a verysuperficial level, this was a fluffy, fly-through reading experience. I'm just not in the mood to accept it for what it is and I can't get passed the meaning between the lines. I'm sure the author had the best intentions and she truly wanted her message to be positive and inspiring but that's not what I got from her writing. As a whole, from Molly's tiring inner monologues and her unhealthy interactions with the others, the message was “get boyfriend and all your problems will be magically solved and you'll fell better”.