All of the Above by James Dawson

I am not able to put how good this book is into words. At this point I'm simply resorting to guttural sounds. UGHHHHHH

All of the Above by James Dawson was a book that so accurately captured the idea of teenagers and sexuality that I realised, when the story ended, that I really had connected to the characters in the story. And when they lose a friend, as did I, when they laughed, I did too.

This may sound strange but it wasn't until the end of the novel that I realised the story was written by a man. Dawson managed to give his main character, Toria, such a voice, even when she speaks on behalf of her friends, all you want to do is read on.

Again, I have to talk about my initial feelings going into the first chapter. Firstly, the word CLICHE jumped out at me like a flashing neon light. New girl moving to a new town, she meets a bunch of misfits, meets a boy yada yada yada. It was like Perks of Being a Wallflower meets Mean Girls.

But there was none of that. This books fits into it's own category.

Instead of a boring, meningeal plot this book was jam packed with twists, curves and full on plot loopdy loops. Without giving too much away, all I can say is that there's loss, struggle and romance. The perfect ingredients to teen drama.

Like Green's Margo Roth Speigelman or Alaska Young, Polly Wolff manages to encapsulate the very idea of someone so sculpted by the idea of being different that it makes the reader wish that this person truly existed just so that their very existence could prove society's ideals wrong.

One major thing I would also like to point out is how Dawson confronts the idea of teens having sex. In most stories I've read, sex is described as this big and scary and poisonous thing that should be mostly avoided. All of the Above's sex scenes and discussions were not only realistic to the modernity of the story but made the idea seem less daunting and a thing, that should still be considered a big step, but still be fun and enjoyable. This was refreshing to me and made the story all the more fun to read.

I'd like to conclude this review with a new feature that I'm introducing, my favourite quote from the book;

"Some people are candles, some people are fireworks."

4 out of 5 stars.

All of the Above by James Dawson

I am not able to put how good this book is into words. At this point I'm simply resorting to guttural sounds. UGHHHHHH

All of the Above by James Dawson was a book that so accurately captured the idea of teenagers and sexuality that I realised, when the story ended, that I really had connected to the characters in the story. And when they lose a friend, as did I, when they laughed, I did too.

This may sound strange but it wasn't until the end of the novel that I realised the story was written by a man. Dawson managed to give his main character, Toria, such a voice, even when she speaks on behalf of her friends, all you want to do is read on.

Again, I have to talk about my initial feelings going into the first chapter. Firstly, the word CLICHE jumped out at me like a flashing neon light. New girl moving to a new town, she meets a bunch of misfits, meets a boy yada yada yada. It was like Perks of Being a Wallflower meets Mean Girls.

But there was none of that. This books fits into it's own category.

Instead of a boring, meningeal plot this book was jam packed with twists, curves and full on plot loopdy loops. Without giving too much away, all I can say is that there's loss, struggle and romance. The perfect ingredients to teen drama.

Like Green's Margo Roth Speigelman or Alaska Young, Polly Wolff manages to encapsulate the very idea of someone so sculpted by the idea of being different that it makes the reader wish that this person truly existed just so that their very existence could prove society's ideals wrong.

One major thing I would also like to point out is how Dawson confronts the idea of teens having sex. In most stories I've read, sex is described as this big and scary and poisonous thing that should be mostly avoided. All of the Above's sex scenes and discussions were not only realistic to the modernity of the story but made the idea seem less daunting and a thing, that should still be considered a big step, but still be fun and enjoyable. This was refreshing to me and made the story all the more fun to read.

I'd like to conclude this review with a new feature that I'm introducing, my favourite quote from the book;

"Some people are candles, some people are fireworks."

4 out of 5 stars.