Anika is the third most popular girl in her school, yet inside she's 'spider stew', a concoction of dark thoughts and diabolical plans. But this side is kept hidden, the most popular girl in school, Becky Vilhauer, will make her life a living hell if she finds out. Everything is going to plan, but then former nerd Logan turns up hotter than ever. Anika knows she can't get involved with him, her social security would be ruined, and that's not something she's willing to risk. As Anika gets closer to Logan she discovers that his loner status is the result of a very troubled home life. And just maybe Anika could be the one to save him… Throw in Jared Kline, the bad boy of all girls dreams, and Anika finds herself needing to make a decision.
I've seen a lot about
Anatomy of a Misfit on blogs and social media, so I was excited to start reading it. When I started I was disappointed,
what was everyone raving about? The language was really young, Anika is only 15 and this young age is definitely reflected in the writing. But I stuck by it, I hate not finishing a book and I try to avoid leaving a book half read as best as I can. And I'm glad I did. In so many reviews on Goodreads people are saying that they gave up with
Anatomy of a Misfit, BIG MISTAKE. The writing style and narrative tone grew on me. I got used to the
Tsh's and
wull's. And then the unexpected happened, and my whole opinion of the book changed. And as the synopsis says it was certainly a '
punch to the gut'.
During the first half of the novel I not only had a problem with the young language, oh no, there was a love triangle. The dreaded element in all books. I started to think that people were hyping Andrea Portes' novel a bit too much. But LOGAN. He's the sweetest guy. One of the only characters in the book that I liked immediately. All of the characters felt real, some of them were vile, and others grew on me over time. And that's part of the beauty of Anatomy of a Misfit, it's all so realistic. Andrea Portes delivers a brutally honest portrayal of racism, abuse, bullying and bigotry.
Logan is a brilliant character, I felt so sorry for him, especially after Anika visits his house. His father hits him, and he takes the hits so he doesn't dish it out to his mum and little brothers. He's a mod hero with a great wit. He's also romantic.
"Just so you know. I f***ing loved you. I f***ing loved the daylights out of you."
Okay, not your typical romantic line, but seriously? I SWOONED.
And the mum is pretty brilliant too.
"Oh, honey, most of those people were just idiots. Sheep, following along. Remember that. Whenever you see everybody clamouring in one direction, do yourself a favour, go the other."
I ended up loving
Anatomy of a Misfit. The shocking end will leave me thinking about this book for a while to come. Have you read
Anatomy of a Misfit? Let me know what you thought in the comments. If you're new to the blog I'd love you to follow me on
Bloglovin'!
'Anatomy of a Misfit' by Andrea Portes
5 Stars
Labels: 5 Stars, Anatomy of a Misfit, Andrea Portes, Book, HarperCollins, Published 2014, Review, YA, Young Adult