Recent Reads #9 | The Art of Being Normal

I have come to the realisation that I might have a soft spot for coming-of-age stories. A very big soft spot. I refuse to call it an obsession because I like to keep up the illusion that I can control myself at least a bit.

Keeping that in mind, you can imagine that I was thrilled when I saw that Lisa Williamson's "The Art of Being Normal" was our first read for The Girl Gang Book Club on Goodreads - I'm very active over there, so feel free to send me a friend request!

I went into this read knowing nothing about the book other than the fact that it's a coming-of-age story and that one of its main characters was transgender, but that had me sold on it right away because for me, it was the first time I saw a transgender character in the spotlight of a novel.
I had great expectations for this, but were they all met?

"The Art of Being Normal" is told from two teenagers' points of view, David Piper and Leo Denton, both outcasts in their own way.

David has always known that he's different than the other kids - he wants to be a girl. He's way too timid and nervous to tell anyone but his two best friends about how he feels, but the other kids at school still sense that there's something different about him and because of that, they call him "Freak Show" and bully him.

Leo appears to be the complete opposite of David. He's the rough, dark and somewhat mysterious guy that transfers to David's school at the beginning of the new year - no one knows for certain why he transfered, but there's a lot of fantastic stories surrounding him.

The two of them meet for the first time when David is being bullied in front of the entire school in the cafeteria and Leo sticks up for him, punching one of the bullies right into the face.
In the detention that follows this event, the two boys get to know each other better, and even though Leo doesn't seem to be interested in any form of social contact, he even goes as far as helping out David, who struggles with Maths a lot - over the course of a week, they become somewhat close to friends.

But both of them have things that are eating at them that put their still fresh bond to the test - David cannot bear to tell his parents, or anyone else, for that matter, about how he feels and it claws at him from the inside, while Leo hides the haunting secret of his past that brought him to David's school in the first place - sooner or later, it will be revealed. But how will Leo cope with that?

I really enjoyed this book's plot, which is why I tried to spoil as little as possible about it in my summary - it might seem predictable at first glance, but there were so many turns and twists that I didn't seem coming which kept the book a good read for the entire ride.

The characters, however, were really driving force of this novel.
If you've read any other installment in my "Recent Reads" series, you'll know that I'm a sucker for character development - and there definitely was a lot to be had in this babe.

Obviously David changes a lot as a person throughout the book as he learns how to accept who he is and even gets confident enough to start dressing as a girl, which made me feel like a proud mother and want to give him the biggest hug.
But Leo was on a whole other level regarding the character development - while he doesn't want to talk to, let alone befriend anyone at his new school, he starts to slowly open up to David and grows so close to him throughout their journey that he trusts him with his biggest secret. But it's not that Leo learns how to trust people again, he also learns who to love himself more, how to stop beating himself up and that there is a future for him to live and work for. I was cheering him on from the sidelines the entire time, and it was so heartwarming.

Seeing the relationship between these two develop was the most precious thing ever.

Most importantly, though, I feel like Lisa Williamson's portrayl of transgender characters was so satisfying - in most pieces of pop culture, they're still displayed in a negative light most of the time and used as a target to get some good gags running.
But not in "The Art of Being Normal". Williamson's characters are raw and real, they're relatable and they explain in depth how they feel and how they work with it to become the person they want to be - in my eyes, it's a valuable clarification for all the people who struggle to understand what being transgender means for those affected, or even worse, those who put them down for who they are.

Overall, I think it's pretty clear that I absolutely loved this book.
It deals with an important topic that still isn't talked about nearly enough in the media, and it gives it's readers a better understanding about this topic in a way that is easy to understand and to emphasize with - with a good plot and outstanding characters who make it the great piece of work that it is.

If you're interested in finding out about everything there is to this story yourself, "The Art of Being Normal" is available on Amazon for 10.45€.

Have you read any books that knocked your socks off? If you have, please let me know in the comments - I'm always on the hunt for a good read!

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