I am obsessed with this book! It perfectly encapsulates what it’s like to grow up online and be caught in the lifelong search for connection while capturing the changing culture and social media of the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s. Harriet Gibsone manages to write about all the embarrassing and cringeworthy stuff we do and think and the reasons behind them—the things we seldom admit to anyone else, the things that no teen coming-of-age comedy has ever explored with half as much cringe, humour, and honesty as Gibsone. There’s something so special and specific about her writing, the way she blends humour and relatability, while displaying a generous amount of vulnerability, is a skill so impressive that it floored me.
As a writer myself, I found myself relating so heavily to Harriet’s experiences with people she obsesses over online and thinks are too amazing and beautiful and talented to ever live up to. She’s constantly acutely aware of her own feelings of imposter syndrome, feeling too basic, untalented, and stupid… always comparing herself to those around her who seem to be able to have original ideas and know how to pull the right words from their brain always at the right times, while she’s too busy looking at these people for the right opinions so she can then somehow try to craft her own work and tweets. Based on this book alone, however, it’s exceptionally clear that Harriet is absolutely not a fake: she’s the real deal and she’s got the talent to prove it—even if it writing about her own life in this way is what took her to truly find it.
What I love the most about this book—aside from the entire chapter dedicated to being obsessed with Alexa Chung—is the humour, relatability, and vulnerability. There were several times I laughed out loud and then couldn’t stop giggling at the absurd situations Harriet described, and the hilarious sentences she strung together. these remain present even as the book becomes darker when Harriet discusses her experiences with early menopause, a difficult pregnancy, and a traumatic birth that left her with PTSD. I experienced many emotions while reading this, both happy and sad, but it ultimately felt like a warm hug from a friend who understands.
Thank you so much to Net Galley for an ARC. Is This Ok? by Harriet Gibsone is out on May 25th.
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