Book: Alice Murphy's Preservation by Maria Kennedy
Reviewed by TheBookAnomaly
Rating: 4.75/5
Thank you to the Author Maria Kennedy & BookSirens for the review copy. All thoughts are my own.
Back when this coming-of-age novel came out, I was fifteen/sixteen years old. I don't believe I would have picked up this book because it discusses Rumors, and High school life hit way too close to home for me. However, now with the ongoing knowledge and passing of time, I think I would encourage my teen self to read this instead especially with the traumatic high school experiences.
Maria Kennedy takes the experience of what it is like to be a Neurodivergent teen who understands how they should navigate the world around them, but operates on another level entirely. What I mean to say is, she is socially awkward and struggles to put herself out there; her social circle relies on random numbers in a notebook and living through her sister- when you're essentially socially Isolated and with the feeling of not belonging anywhere hanging over your head, it is an extremely relatable story to anyone who feels like they would like to belong and struggle to put themselves out there to find the people who like the strange and are willing to skip the prom just to hold a ceremony of your own with a close group of kin.
Had I read this at fifteen/sixteen, I probably would have taken the steps to create my own content sooner and maybe even developed confidence that would have affected the fallouts in real life, as Kennedy demonstrates with the character of Jim Flaherty, as well as the Senior Girls who talk poorly about Alice's sister directly.
Hindsight is 20/20 but If I had this before my 20's I know Life could have been different, but here's the thing. Even reading this at 29, I feel the message of navigating ways to put myself out there to find similar people has made something click inside my head; Unfortunately, I am also a socially awkward person and Weird, and I don't think that's ever going away, nor do I desire to be "Normal" if it means putting down others.