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A review by becandbooks
Untidy Towns by Kate O'Donnell
3.0
You know when you read a book and it just seems so relevant in time and place and meaning that you just really get it? That's what Untidy Towns was for me.
(To clarify I am not a 17-year-old about to graduate BUT I am a 24-year-old EEEEEP that has no idea where she is going in life)
Adelaide ditches her super flouncy, prestigious school and scuttles back to little Victoria country town, Emyvale. It is here where she basically decides she has no frick of an idea what to do with her life. But she is sick of the institution telling what and how to do things.
And so, she gets back to her roots, lives back home with her fambam, starts (kinda forcibly) volunteering at the local historical society.
This is not a book of big whirlwind adventures or swooning out of castle towers. There is a horse who makes some wonderful dopey appearances. The book is just this: a coming-to-age contemporary. And it does the job well.
There is REAL Australian things that happen! And not cliche ride a kangaroo events, but jump on an empty Big M carton to make it pop sort of events. If you are an Aussie you should read it just to appreciate these bits and pieces that just aren't included in the American/British saturated YA literature that we tend to read.
There is the slightest amount of diversity but it isn't overly explored. The reaction to coming-out is pretty average imo, not terrible but not overwhemingly good. Which in many ways is actually pretty accurate. There is also a mention of mental health (Adelaide announces that she had panic attacks while at her flouncy school) but this isn't discussed at all. Which disappointed me. A lot. Why mention it if it's not discussed? And why not take an opportunity to explore it a bit if it's included? I promise these will be discussed in more detail in my full review.
This is a book about being young and discovering yourself and not having to follow the path those around you do. It was enjoyable and relevant to anyone who has come to the end of high school in any way or form. While it wasn't the best book I've read, it is a book that has found at a good point in my life and when reading that is something that matters.
A full review is to come over at my blog. In the meantime check out other things here!
(To clarify I am not a 17-year-old about to graduate BUT I am a 24-year-old EEEEEP that has no idea where she is going in life)
Adelaide ditches her super flouncy, prestigious school and scuttles back to little Victoria country town, Emyvale. It is here where she basically decides she has no frick of an idea what to do with her life. But she is sick of the institution telling what and how to do things.
And so, she gets back to her roots, lives back home with her fambam, starts (kinda forcibly) volunteering at the local historical society.
This is not a book of big whirlwind adventures or swooning out of castle towers. There is a horse who makes some wonderful dopey appearances. The book is just this: a coming-to-age contemporary. And it does the job well.
There is REAL Australian things that happen! And not cliche ride a kangaroo events, but jump on an empty Big M carton to make it pop sort of events. If you are an Aussie you should read it just to appreciate these bits and pieces that just aren't included in the American/British saturated YA literature that we tend to read.
There is the slightest amount of diversity but it isn't overly explored. The reaction to coming-out is pretty average imo, not terrible but not overwhemingly good. Which in many ways is actually pretty accurate. There is also a mention of mental health (Adelaide announces that she had panic attacks while at her flouncy school) but this isn't discussed at all. Which disappointed me. A lot. Why mention it if it's not discussed? And why not take an opportunity to explore it a bit if it's included? I promise these will be discussed in more detail in my full review.
This is a book about being young and discovering yourself and not having to follow the path those around you do. It was enjoyable and relevant to anyone who has come to the end of high school in any way or form. While it wasn't the best book I've read, it is a book that has found at a good point in my life and when reading that is something that matters.
A full review is to come over at my blog. In the meantime check out other things here!