Review: Finding Audrey – Sophie Kinsella

Posted 26 April, 2016 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 14 Comments

Review: Finding Audrey – Sophie KinsellaFinding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
Published by Delacorte Books for Young Readers on 9 June 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 286
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchase
4.5 Stars

An anxiety disorder disrupts fourteen-year-old Audrey’s daily life. She has been making slow but steady progress with Dr. Sarah, but when Audrey meets Linus, her brother’s gaming teammate, she is energized. She connects with him. Audrey can talk through her fears with Linus in a way she’s never been able to do with anyone before. As their friendship deepens and her recovery gains momentum, a sweet romantic connection develops, one that helps not just Audrey but also her entire family.

Contemporary - (un)Conventional Bookviews

Finding Audrey is the brilliantly narrated story about Audrey – who suffers from social anxiety after something very bad happened to her at her school.

Review - (un)Conventional Bookviews

Because Finding Audrey is narrated by the eponymous heroine herself, in first person present tense – but with some scenes filmed by her camera – reading this story was like living with her for a while. While I don’t have any experience with mental illness myself, Audrey’s story felt very realistic to me, from the way she was hiding in the den, always wearing dark sunglasses, and not able to interact with many people at all. In the middle of a slightly chaotic family, and with her therapist’s help, she was slowly breaking out of her protective shell and managed to take baby-steps towards a social and interactive world she had stayed away from for months.

I loved Audrey’s family! And also her analysis of them all! She had her parents down pat, especially her mom, who was always trying her best, but somehow often missing the actual point when it came to her teenaged children. Frank, Audrey’s older brother, played a lot of video games, and their mom suddenly decided he was addicted to one game in particular. The lengths she went to to stop him from playing were extreme, and at the same time, it was almost understandable that she felt like she had nothing else to do but throw Frank’s computer out the window.

With a lot of help, Audrey managed to first start talking to Linus, one of Frank’s friends, by sending her little brother with notes. Then, little by little they were able to talk in person, touch (first only the soles of their shoes) and finally leave the house and live in the outside world for short moments. I loved that Audrey never wanted to give up, even when she was feeling frantic about doing something, she somehow managed to take those small steps she needed to take in order to get better.

One of the most beautiful things for me in Finding Audrey was not only that she had to find herself once more, but that she had to realize that life is full of ups and downs for all of us. And I can’t really imagine how hard it must be for someone who just cannot deal with other people, to leave their house, interact, not feel judged and self-conscious. I have no idea if what Audrey lived with would be realistic for a person with social anxiety, but for me, it was eye-opening, as my heart was speeding up when hers was, from thinking about a situation that made her anxiety spike.

Well-written, and frankly, quite light-hearted despite the difficult subject, Finding Audrey was my first Kinsella read, but it won’t be the last. Able to tackle something that makes life difficult for so many people in a respectful way, and still managing to insert some humour, hope and love into the story, Kinsella got me attached to Audrey from the very first page!

Fave Quotes - (un)Conventional Bookviews

Felix is our little brother. He’s four. He greets most life events with disbelieving joy. A lorry in the street! Ketchup! An extra-long chip! Mom throwing a computer out of the window is just one of the list of daily miracles.

My dad is tall and handsome in a car advert way, and he looks like the boss, but inside, he isn’t really an alpha male. No, that sounds bad. He’s alpha in a lot of ways, I suppose. Only Mum is even more alpha.She’s strong and bossy and pretty and bossy. I said bossy twice, didn’t I? Well. Draw your own conclusions from that.

‘Look, it’s the celebrity!’ quips Ollie’s dad, Rob. He’s been calling me ‘the celebrity’ for the last four weeks, even though Mum and Dad have separately been over to ask him to stop. He thinks it’s funny and that my parents have no sense of humour. (I’ve often noticed that people equate ‘having a sense of humour’ with ‘being an insensitive moron’.)

I take off my dark glasses and look into his round, open little face. Felix is the only one I can cope with looking at, eye to eye. My parents’ eyes – forget it. They’re full of worry and fear and too much knowledge. And kind of too much love, if that makes sense?

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

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14 responses to “Review: Finding Audrey – Sophie Kinsella

  1. What an interesting book! I like that the author managed to keep it lighthearted despite a serious subject, and still be respectful. As for Audrey’s anxiety, it sounds like a pretty accurate portrayal to me, though my experience with anxiety is more general than social. This also sounds like a book that would do well in audio. I may have to check it out.

  2. It’s good that the light heartedness of the style didn’t dull the seriousness of the situation. I have bouta of anxiety and I can barely function when it happens. I can’t even begin to imagine what or how it’s like for people with permanent issues like that

  3. I don’t know how I managed to miss this review earlier but… I saw this book (a giveaway for it) last year at RT and I was intrigued. I will definitely add this to my tbr and pick it up sooner than later, Lexxie…probably in audio. I’m excited about the way Kinsella seems to have handled social anxiety, in a teen no less. Audrey seems very realistic and I’m very curious about how she analyzed her family members. That sounds fun. 😉 I’m glad you enjoyed your intro to Kinsella. I’ve read a few from her (Shopaholic) and enjoyed them.
    *BIG HUGS*

    • Yes, that’s where I first heard about Finding Audrey, too, Brandee. And it’s really good. I hope you’ll find it on audio so you can start it sooner rather than alter.
      I need to read Shopaholic now, too, because the writing was so good, and the character development as well.
      *BIG HUGS*

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