I needed a stay-up-all-night-can’t-put-down book after a few duds, and Made You Up by Francesca Zappia came at just the right moment.
I loved this book.
If you’re into John Green and Jandy Nelson and the realistic-fiction-to-the-extreme genre, this book is for you. Made You Up is a story about Alex, a eighteen year old girl who is starting her senior year at a new school after an “incident” at her last one. She’s schizophrenic and struggles with knowing what are delusions and what is real. She consults a Magic 8 Ball for advice, carries around a camera to review her check her memory of things later one, and wants so bad to just be normal.
Of course, she’s not and she can’t be. Even the medicine doesn’t calm everything down inside of her.
I loved this book. Did I mention that?
Because she’s schizophrenic, she’s a completely unreliable narrator and trying to keep up with what is real and hwhat is not keeps the reader on his/her toes. You want so bad to believe her, but sometimes you’re just not sure. I struggle with narrators that are unreliable–something about it goes against the unwritten rule that a narrator should be trusted–but Alex doesn’t ever cross over into the territory where you just feel annoyed or tricked. She’s just really not sure what is real, and it’s heartbreaking.
Made You Up by Francesca Zappia is engaging, addicting, and well-written. There are twists and turns and moments that catch you so off guard that you have to go back and read the chapter again. And the most amazing part is that Zappia, who is now a college student, wrote this when she was in high school. WHAT?! The setting is Indianapolis, where I live, and after I finished this book, I learned that she went to a high school ten minutes from my house and my husband knows her family! WE ARE GOING TO BE BEST FRIENDS IN NO TIME. Okay, read this book.
I love your book recs! I just put a hold on this one through our library system. Thanks!
Yay! Let me know what you think when you finish it. 🙂