Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
336 pages
Hardcover
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Alexi Littrell hasn't told anyone what happened to her over the summer. Ashamed and embarrassed, she hides in her closet and compulsively scratches the back of her neck, trying to make the outside hurt more than the inside does.
Alexi Littrell hasn't told anyone what happened to her over the summer. Ashamed and embarrassed, she hides in her closet and compulsively scratches the back of her neck, trying to make the outside hurt more than the inside does.
When Bodee Lennox, the quiet and
awkward boy next door, comes to live with the Littrells, Alexi discovers an
unlikely friend in "the Kool-Aid Kid," who has secrets of his own. As
they lean on each other for support, Alexi gives him the strength to deal with
his past, and Bodee helps her find the courage to finally face the truth.
A searing, poignant book, Faking
Normal is the extraordinary debut novel from an exciting new author - Courtney
C. Stevens.
I’ve done my best to remain spoiler free – for that reason,
there’s a bit of vagueness, which I usually try to avoid.
I expected Faking
Normal to be a heavy, serious read, and I honestly wasn’t sure I was in the
mental space to handle it. While the subject matter is very serious, at it’s
core Faking Normal is an uplifting
and inspiring story about what being a friend, and being supportive, really
means. In a novel where grief and trauma dominates, I found Alexi and Bodee’s
slow growth of trust in each other, and the subsequent slow reveal of the
traumas they’ve faced, to be a really powerful thing. I had such a strong
emotional reaction to this novel. The story will stay with me for a longtime.
Faking
Normal has one of the most interesting and heartbreaking opening
chapters I’ve ever read. While we have no idea the depth of trauma Alexi has
face, we are instantly introduced to a big part of the devastation Bodee is
facing.
