JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Finding Nevo by Nevo Zisin

Personal, political and passionate, Finding Nevo is an autobiography about gender and everything that comes with it.

Meet Nevo: girl, boy, he, she, him, her, they, them, daughter, son, teacher, student, friend, gay, bi, lesbian, trans, homo, Jew, dyke, masculine, feminine, androgynous, queer.

Nevo was not born in the wrong body. Nevo just wants everyone to catch up with all that Nevo is. Personal, political and passionate, Finding Nevo is an autobiography about gender and everything that comes with it.

Finding Nevo by Nevo Zisin is an inspirational memoir about identity and discovery. This is Nevo’s journey towards understanding their body and discovering who they want to be in the world.

This isn’t a long read — about 200 pages — and the book is incredibly informative. Nevo explains a lot of things about being non-binary and also transgender that readers can learn from, and this is not just medically or physiologically, but mentally.

When Nevo was going through various stages in their adolescent life, like coming out or changing their body, Nevo’s family, friends and peers didn’t always react how Nevo would’ve liked them too. It was rather confronting to read, and important to understand what Nevo’s childhood and adolescent life was like.

“Gender dysmorphia is this fun thing that happens sometimes when you exist outside of society’s very narrow understandings of gender, and it slowly started sneaking into my life.”

Nevo’s biography is really insightful, and not just for young readers. The book masterfully captures what life has been like for Nevo, both mentally but also physically. I learnt a lot from reading this.

Finding Nevo also addresses how society and the media like to portray transgender people. For example, the media describing someone as ‘being born in the wrong body’ is common, but not something that Nevo feels they went through. That isn’t them. So, it’s important to remember that every transgender person’s experiences are different, and if you don’t know what they’d like to be called, ask them. It’s important to keep them in the discussion so that you don’t end up marginalising them.

“Maybe I was neither male nor female, man or woman. Maybe the idea of gender is socially constructed through institutions and social norms we’ve created. Gender has changed through time, cultures and geographies.”

There is only one thing about this book that I didn’t particularly like, and that was the slight repetition of sentences when reflecting on past events. Often, Nevo would explain how something in their life made them feel, and then Nevo would explain how they overcame that. However, after that, Nevo would then again explain how they initially felt about it, and that final sentence always seemed unnecessary. Here’s an example of a couple of pages in the book that end up circling:

“The situation with my mum wasn’t improving. I had thought she was dealing with things in her own time, but she wasn’t confronting my transition at all, rather she was pushing it to the side an hoping it would go away…I had a few more conversations with her, then realised she needed to speak to people who were more detached from the situation…Although I still feel pain in regards to how she treated me at the beginning of my transition, her ability to take responsibility for her mistakes and apologise is what has saved our relationship.”

Even though that final sentence allows Nevo to reflect, there are quite a few moments in the book where a reflection statement is made and I think they could’ve been cut from the book. It felt repetitive, and I think the reader is able to understand the significance of these moments already.

I recommend this book to any young reader who doesn’t feel comfortable in their body, or who feels unable to be themselves around family or friends. I also recommend this book to people who feel like they have a lot to learn about gender and identity and what someone who is transgender might be going through. Finding Nevo is as much a learning tool as it is a memoir.

Finding Nevo
Nevo Zisin
May 2017
Walker Books Australia

Goodbye, Perfect by Sara Barnard

When I was wild, you were steady . . .
Now you are wild – what am I?

Eden McKinley knows she can’t count on much in this world, but she can depend on Bonnie, her solid, steady, straight-A best friend. So it’s a bit of a surprise when Bonnie runs away with the boyfriend Eden knows nothing about five days before the start of their GCSEs. Especially when the police arrive on her doorstep and Eden finds out that the boyfriend is actually their music teacher, Mr Cohn.

Sworn to secrecy and bound by loyalty, only Eden knows Bonnie’s location, and that’s the way it has to stay. There’s no way she’s betraying her best friend. Not even when she’s faced with police questioning, suspicious parents and her own growing doubts.

As the days pass and things begin to unravel, Eden is forced to question everything she thought she knew about the world, her best friend and herself.

Goodbye, Perfect by Sara Barnard is a young adult novel that explores friendship, growing up, and inappropriate relationships.

When Eden finds out that her best friend Bonnie has run off with their music teacher, she is both confused and shocked. Bonnie tells her everything, but she didn’t tell her this? For most of the novel, Eden struggles to grapple their friendship (or what she remembers of their friendship). Eden doesn’t understand why Bonnie would make this huge — and very wrong — decision and not even tell her about it beforehand. And yes, it seems selfish at times that Eden is really only thinking about herself in this situation, but Eden is a teenager and teenagers can be selfish at times.

“I go up to my room and sit on my bed for a while, turning my phone over in my fingers, trying not to think about Bonnie. Her absence and silence today is, in a weird kind of way, more unsettling than anything that’s happened so far this week, and thinking about it makes me feel nauseous.”

Goodbye, Perfect also explores the relationship between Eden and her older sister Valerie. Valerie appears to be perfect in every sense. She’s smart, good-looking and excels at everything. Eden barely passes her exams, and doesn’t want Valerie around making her feel inferior.

I actually think Sara did a really great job of portraying this relationship. Sibling relations can be so tricky to illustrate in fiction without it seeming overdramatic, but I was able to relate to this part of the book. The relationship between the two sisters seemed authentic and realistic.

“I can tell that she’s sceptical but trying not to show it, her mouth twitching with the I’m-so-much-older-and-you’re-just-a-teenager smirk that is so endlessly annoying.”

Goodbye, Perfect is really dialogue-heavy, but it is a quick read. At only two hundred pages, a lot of frequent readers will get through this is one or two sittings.

I did feel like parts of the novel were a little hard to believe. Bonnie runs off with a teacher and Eden is the only one she talks to and Eden decides to keep it a secret? I feel like even a teenager would soon realise how wrong that is. Even a teenager would end up telling the authorities, because they’d realise how much danger Bonnie was in.

“Now I have Jack.”
“And, what? That’s your life plan?”
“Why can’t it be?”
“Because you’re fifteen?”
“Love is love, Eden. However old you are.”
I swear I almost hang up on her.

I also think the ending was rather rushed, and there was no real resolution to the story. It’s hard to explain any further without giving away spoilers, so I’ll just leave it at that.

I recommend this to young readers, between 12-14. I definitely think this falls to the ‘young’ end of the YA readership, because the dialogue and the interactions between the teens seem quite immature and there’s a lot of texting and over exaggerated dialogue that felt more reflective of young teens rather than older teens.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Goodbye, Perfect
Sara Barnard
February 2018
Pan Macmillan Australia

The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell

Before Carrie Bradshaw hit the big time in the City, she was a regular girl growing up in the suburbs of Connecticut. How did she turn into one of the most-read social observers of our generation?

The Carrie Diaries opens up in Carrie’s senior year of high school. She and her best friends — Walt, Lali, Maggie, and the Mouse — are inseparable, amid the sea of Jens, Jocks and Jets. And then Sebastian Kydd comes into the picture. Sebastian is a bad boy-older, intriguing, and unpredictable. Carrie falls into the relationship that she was always supposed to have in high school-until a friend’s betrayal makes her question everything. With her high school days coming to a close, Carrie will realize it’s finally time to go after everything she ever wanted.

The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell is a novel about Carrie Bradshaw before Sex and the City. It’s a fun, entertaining novel about her final year of high school when friendships are tested and relationships threaten to break down all that Carrie has built.

This book is set during that time in a teenager’s life when they have to figure out what they want to do after they complete school. Carrie wants to be a writer, but she’s been rejected from a summer writing seminar that she desperately wanted. She doesn’t want to stay in Connecticut, instead, wanting to explore the big cities and feel like she’s meant for something more.

If you’re a fan of Sex and the City, you’ll love The Carrie Diaries. You’ll love getting to know a young Carrie as she goes from aspiring fiction writer to the sharp, insightful non-fiction writer that we’ve come to love in the TV show. At the end of the book, you’ll also get to meet a Sex and the City favourite as her and Carrie cross paths.

Don’t get me wrong — you don’t need to be a Sex and the City fan to read this book. It’s a standalone novel, and completely separate from the series. So anyone can read it.

“I spot Walt behind the counter by the grill. The only other customers are three teenage girls with hair dyed in multiple hues of pink, blue and green. I nearly walk past them when suddenly I realise that one of these punks is my sister.”

I’m not sure what I was expecting going into this, but this was one of my favourite reads from the past year. I read it on holiday, and this is such a fun, fluffy book but it’s also incredibly well-written with plenty of depth and relatable characters. Even though this is set in America, I recognised some of my own high school experiences in this book.

“I understand her despair. Maggie is one of the millions of kids out there who have no idea what they want to do with their lives — like Sebastian, I suppose, and Lali.”

At times the plot did feel a little unrealistic and absurd, but the friendships are really developed and the dialogue is realistic and the characters are relatable. Anyone who is creative and has a dream of pursuing that will be able to relate to Carrie. Any girl who has gone to high school or has dated a guy that wasn’t really right for them, will also relate to Carrie.

The Carrie Diaries is very dialogue driven, with plenty of characters in every scene. I recommend this to teenagers, but also fans of chick lit, romance, or fans of the TV show.

The Carrie Diaries
Candace Bushnell
June 2010
HarperCollins Publishers

Indigo Blue by Jessica Watson

Alex feels like a fish out of water in her new hometown – the sleepy little lakeside village of Boreen Point where she is reluctantly sent to live with her slightly eccentric aunt for her final year of high school. None of Alex’s classmates could care less about the new girl, so Alex couldn’t care less about them . . . or so she tries to tell herself.

As a distraction from what is quickly shaping up to be a very lonely year, Alex spends her savings on a rundown little yacht and throws herself into restoring it. An offer to help a shy classmate with a history assignment leads to a curious discovery and the beginnings of a friendship, but it’s Sam – the sailmaker’s apprentice – and his mysterious ways that really capture Alex’s attention . . .

Indigo Blue by Jessica Watson is a contemporary novel set in the sleepy little lakeside village of Boreen Point.

Many Australians know who Jessica Watson is — at 16, she was the youngest person to sail solo non-stop and unassisted around the world. She was also the Young Australian of the Year in 2011 and is an incredible role model for young Australians, particularly girls.

Alex secured herself next to him and they accelerated out through the entrance, small waves breaking on either side.

It’s no surprise to learn that Jessica’s debut novel is about a girl who loves sailing and spends her spare time fixing up and maintaining a newly purchased sail boat. People in the town think she’s crazy for purchasing it, but Alex is determined to prove them wrong. She knows what she’s doing. She loves being out on the water, and spends a lot of time in the book sailing the waters around Boreen Point.

Alex is definitely a fish out of water, but she manages to make friends at her school and she meets a cute, mysterious boy in town named Sam.

Alex copied the way Sam cast and dragged his line through the water while he told her more about the sort of fish that lived in the river. They didn’t have any luck catching yabbies and nearly an hour had passed when Alex found herself scratching at the bare skin on her arms and legs.

The premise of the story is a little hard to believe. Alex’s mother passed away a long time ago and her father has accepted a research grant for a year. Alex moves to this small coastal town to live with her aunt for the final year of school. This isn’t realistic. We don’t even really hear from the Dad at all during the book, and the relationship between Alex and her aunt is stilted and awkward. This was a way to have absent parents in the book — and a new setting for the character — but it felt like a flawed premise.

Whilst this does seem like a standard contemporary novel, there is also some magical realism and folklore woven into the novel. Above all else, Indigo Blue is a book about determination, persistence, and family. Alex knows her own strengths and despite other people doubting her, she perseveres. She proves them wrong.

John looked down at her, still frowning. ‘This boat needs work,’ he told her. ‘Not work for a kid like you.’
Alex tried not to roll her eyes; if only he knew half of what she learned at the yacht club in Sydney.

This is a cute story, but definitely suited for a young audience. I’d recommend this to girls aged approximately 9-13. The book seems to hover between ‘junior fiction’ age and ‘young teen’ age. The story is not overly complex, nor is the language. There is also a small, fantastical/mystical element to the book that was a rather surprising discovery. But, young readers will find this is a really fun book.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Indigo Blue
Jessica Watson
January 2018
Hachette Book Publishers

The Harper Effect by Taryn Bashford

Sixteen-year-old Harper was once a rising star on the tennis court—until her coach dropped her for being “mentally weak.” Without tennis, who is she? Her confidence at an all-time low, she secretly turns to her childhood friend, next-door neighbor Jacob—who also happens to be her sister’s very recent ex-boyfriend. If her sister finds out, it will mean a family war.

But when Harper is taken on by a new coach who wants her to train with Colt, a cold, defensive, brooding young tennis phenom, she hits the court all the harder, if only to prove Colt wrong. But as the two learn to become a team, Harper gets glimpses of the vulnerable boy beneath the surface, the boy who was deeply scarred by his family’s dark and scandalous past. The boy she could easily find herself falling for.

As she walks a fine line between Colt’s secrets, her forbidden love, and a game that demands nothing but the best, Harper must decide between her past and her future and between two boys who send her head spinning. Is the cost of winning the game is worth losing everything?

The Harper Effect is a debut YA novel by Australian author Taryn Bashford, taking the reader deep into the world of professional tennis. It’s as much a romance novel as it is a fun, sporty novel for tennis fans.

I love tennis. It’s probably one of my favourite sports. So to find a YA novel that features this much tennis was amazing. I loved all the behind-the-scenes exchanges and all the travel, and I love how this book wasn’t just about the lead up to one tournament, but several. Throughout the book, Harper and Colt perform many times together, and they learn something new about each other with each match.

Later Milo talks tactics and strategies — how we must know our opponents, when they’ve won and lost, why they’ve won and lost, how we adapt to them. ‘Winning is not only about how well you play, it’s about how well you make your opponent play badly,’ he says.

It’s so refreshing to read a young adult novel where the character’s love of sport is not just a mentioned trait, but is actually embedded in the storyline. This novel is not just about Harper’s tricky relationship with her sister’s ex-boyfriend. It’s about her love for tennis and her determination to succeed, and her efforts in learning to understand her somewhat moody — but troubled — doubles partner Colt.

Taryn Bashford does a really fantastic job of illustrating the relationship between a teen and their parent, particularly when the child has made poor choices. When Harper’s dad sees her kissing Jacob, he’s really disappointed in her, and I found this exchange to be really relatable and believable. I also think that the strong relationship that Harper has with her dad is really great to read about — I love YA novels that actually feature parents in the storyline. Absent parents can be frustrating in a YA novel.

Despite loving this novel and absolutely adoring all the tennis, I did find it rather unbelievable that two young teenagers would make it as far as they did so quickly. It’s not impossible, but Colt and Harper both make it very far for how young they are. I guess part of me felt like in real life, there’d be a lot more losses before they succeeded as well as they did. Additionally, the book is filled with metaphors and similes that are a bit redundant and could’ve been cut from the book.

“When we arrive for training I’m in the mood to wrap the tennis net around the throat of the first person who speaks to me. I march onto the court and throw my bag at the ground.”

I felt that Jacob’s character seemed to escalate at a really fast rate. Towards the end of the novel, his behaviour seems a little too extreme, and I thought his antagonistic attitude could’ve been reduced a bit.

This is great summer read, perfect for lounging by the pool or the beach and enjoying the story — I read this over my summer holiday and thought it was really fun. I’m a huge fan of tennis though, and it’s the Australian Open, after all. Perfect timing!

Thank you to the publishers for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Harper Effect
Taryn Bashford
January 2018
Pan Macmillan Publishers

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