The Upside of Unrequited

The Upside of Unrequited

Book Title:
The Upside of Unrequited
Author:
Becky Albertalli
Pages:
336

Molly has had tons of crushes but never a boyfriend. Her twin sister Cassie has been dating for a while and keeps trying to get Molly to act on her crushes. When Cassie begins dating her new girlfriend, she tries to set Molly up with cute boy Will. Molly has also started a new job and met Reid. She and Reid really have a great rapport. Who will she choose?

I wanted to like this book way more than I did. I loved Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and Leah on the Offbeat, but there were a lot of issues with this book. They all revolve around fat shaming and self-worth. Molly is not a skinny girl and she not only fat shames herself but is fat shamed by others including her grandmother. I recognize that chubbier girls can have self-esteem issues and I appreciate the attention to it in this book. However, the delivery is horrible and the fact that Molly finally feels beautiful once she gets a boyfriend is just plain BS and a terrible message to send to girls. Your self-worth is not tied to someone else liking you! I did love the diversity of the characters and the fact that being gay is treated so casually. I think that is the perfect way to tell a story. I loved the callback to Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda with the fact that Abby is Molly's cousin. I even loved the discussion about how you can like someone others don't see as worthy. Reid is a bit of a nerd and the others don't see his worth, but Molly does and that is fine. There was so much good in this book but it was overshadowed by the fat shaming and Molly's turnaround at the end.