Book review: Faking Normal by Courtney C. Stevens

HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2014

For most people, life can be divided into parts, like the beginning, middle, and end of a story. For this YA novel sixteen-year-old Alexi Littrell and Bodee Lennox, there are only before and after.

Before, Alexi and Bodee were relative strangers, brought together only by locker proximity and coincidence, a world of differences between them. Bodee was known more simply the Kool-Aid Kid, an unassuming oddball with weird hair who was the object of ridicule and scorn amongst his peers. Alexi was known more simply a shy, ordinary teenage girl who liked spending time with her best friends.

After, the two teenagers are dealing with psychological trauma far beyond their sixteen years. For Bodee, this means attempting to escape the violent legacy of his murderous father, who killed his mother in a devastating incident of domestic violence. For Alexi, only the self-inflicted scars on her neck give away the sign that someone close to her did something terrible to her. Now she is faking normal and dealing with the crippling aftermath of her rape and betrayal at the hands of someone she trusted. Alexi’s secret is killing her on the inside. In order to cope with the internal pain, she engages in various rituals, including self-mutilation, and she still gets up every morning and pretends like everything is fine. No one in her family notices how much she is suffering every day. Even with all the anxiety building up inside her, she still can keep her family and friends in the dark.

When the Littrells welcome Bodee into their home, Alexi and Bodee form an unlikely bond despite their vastly different backgrounds and upbringings, their reciprocally shared pain forging an indelible link between them. When he moves in with Alexi’s family, he discover the scars on her neck, the ones she inflicts on herself and always tries to hide it. They become friends and help each other to deal with their traumas together. As the two teenagers attempt to seek closure and redefine themselves after all that has happened, Alexi and Bodee may find that there is no greater power than that of love and that there is light to be found at the end of even the darkest of tunnels.

Faking Normal deals with the sexual assault, self-injury, and spousal abuse. It is a story about being honest with yourself and finding courage. It also about understanding that you are never alone, no matter how lonely you feel.