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3.5/5
Non-Fiction
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Rating: 5/5
Pages: 480
Started: 14 September 2024
Finished: 15 September 2024
Summary:
Everything in Frances' life has been done with the goal of getting into a top Uni: head girl, best grades in her class, a spotless record. The only problem is that Frances doesn't really like School Frances; she likes drawing and watching movies with her mom and listening to Universe City, a dystopian fiction podcast she's been obsessed with for years. When the Universe City creator commissions her to create art for the show, and then, insanely, she discovers that he is Aled, the boy who lives across the street, Frances's priorities slowly start to shift. She begins to wear the weird jumpers she usually only keeps in her closet, starts to draws in public, and is soon spending every waking minute with Aled working on Universe City. But although he won't say much, Frances knows Aled has a good reason for keeping his identity as the Creator a secret.
Thoughts:
God, this book is beautiful. Alice Oseman's prose stops me in my tracks every time; it's so vulnerable and teenage and poignant. The depiction of an end-all-be-all platonic relationship always makes me so happy, and I love reading Frances' narration because of it. Re-reading for the fourth time, every scene felt perfectly paced, but the epilogue was especially jubilant, between Aled's creative success and his comfort expressing his aesthetic and gender identity on stage, and receiving so much support for it. Oseman's ability to write friends is incredible, and I am deeply excited for whatever book they come out with next.