Book: North of Beautiful
Author: Justina Chen Headley
Publisher: Little Brown
Shelfability: Get!
We all moan about our looks from time to time. Take me: I spent my life giving out about the state of my pimply face and the size of my butt (it’s not small). But deep down most of know that we’re basically okay-looking, right? This is what I kept coming back to when I was reading North of Beautiful. The narrator, Terra, is a beautiful girl-tall, blonde and skinny, but all people can ever look at is the red birthmark that covers half of her face. Her mother spends most of her time trying to find the wonder treatment that will leave Terra clear-skinned and ‘normal’ looking, while her father devotes his energies to belittling and undermining his wife and daughter at every turn. Then by chance Terra meets a boy with a scar of his own, and her world tilts on its axis.
I loved this book. Terra was such a great narrator. I really warmed to her and admired her obstinacy and determination. But I also understood when she did something weak; after years of her father chipping away at her fragile self esteem I was surprised she had the strength to bring the novel to the conclusion it eventually reached. The supporting characters are also really well written; I Terra’s mother and her love interest Jacob. I nearly wanted to skip ahead to the end of the book because I HAD to know if they ended up together.
I’d recommend this book to anyone. It really reminded me to worry less about the small stuff.
Rating: 9/10
No comments:
Post a Comment