Anatomy of a Misfit audiobook

ANATOMY OF A MISFIT is what happens when your favorite Sara Zarr book and the movie HEATHERS get drunk and make a baby. By turns snort-into-your-palm funny and arrow-to-the heart observant, this book is ultimately a bust-your-soul-to-smithereens look at what it means to care too much about the opinions of all the wrong people. Adult novelist Andrea Portes gives a masterclass in what "voice" is, and does so here with her camera's POV firmly set at the Young Adult audience. This is YA at its best: not just a "then this happens" story featuring a teenaged protagonist. This is literature—there is a joy and a loveliness about the way the words come together and spark on the page to reveal character and plot that makes this book a virtuosic thrill ride. Welcome to YA, Ms. Portes. We are lucky to have you.

4.5 starsOk, I really didn't think I was going to give this book such a high rating, but it completely redeemed itself. I'm still put off by the slut-shaming & using the term "gay" as an insult, but everything else was done really well. This book was described by someone as mean girls meets the perks of being a wallflower, and I literally could not come up with a better description. This was pretty fantastic & it definitely surprised me. Also, Anika's character development throughout this book is top notch, and I love how much she grew as a person by the end.

I must admit that I was a little skeptical when first approaching this book. When I initially read the blurb, I thought it would just be another clichéd love story/triangle. Instead, I found a brutally honest depiction of bigotry, abuse and bullying that will stay with me for days.Anatomy of a Misfit is a contemporary YA novel that follows ninth grader Anika Dragomir (Dragomir? Vampire Academy anyone?) as she struggles to maintain her ‘third most popular’ social standing in a Mean Girls-esque high school setting where rumours and bullying can make or break a person. Immediately branded as an outsider for her Romanian descent, Anika must stick to her manipulative ‘first most popular’ friend Becky Vilhauer in an effort to avoid becoming an eternal social pariah. Enter loner and newly turned hottie Logan McDonough with his unique views of the world and suddenly the life Anika has grown used to, doesn’t seem so great after all. What should Anika do? Follow her heart and beliefs, or follow the crowd?I loved Anika and her quirky personality. She was sarcastic, hilarious and unashamedly honest. Her various diabolical plots were incredibly entertaining as she struggled with her desire to do right even with the looming threat of unpopularity. Logan was harder to like. He made these incredibly sweet gestures of romance to Anika but his underlying anger issues at times (and in one particular scene) were quite frightening. Hats off to Porters for this realistic portrayal.Honestly, I wouldn’t really call it a black and white love story. The relationship itself is pushed to the side when acknowledging the bigger issues portrayed in this novel. I liked this about it though and found it refreshingly realistic that Anika’s entire life didn’t revolve around Logan.One thing I have to say is that I did NOT see that ending coming. I mean I know the blurb itself boasts a ‘devastating penultimate tragedy’ but it definitely came out of nowhere. I won’t spoil it for you, but I recommend chocolate, or tissues.This book had me laughing to myself on the train (to the dismay of the very cute boy I may have scared half to death) and close to tears (damn you, Andrea Portes). ‘Anatomy of A Misfit’ was a wonderful and at times incredibly daring book that honestly tackled important problems without trivializing them.Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good and surprising read. Portes does a wonderful job at realistically portraying not only the incredible difficulties of surviving high school, but of the ingrained and often overlooked problems within society as a whole. Don’t be fooled. This is not simply a love story; it’s a candid portrayal of a young girl coming to terms with not only the underlying prejudices of society, but with herself.Thank you to Harper Collins Australia for providing a physical copy in exchange for an honest review.My guest review for thoughtsbyj can also be found here: http://www.thoughtsbyj.com/arc-review...

Honestly, 90% into the book I was so sure that I was gonna rate this 3 stars because as much as I thought the character voice was so real and strong, I wasn't fond of the prose and the love triangle. But then those last few chapters caught me off guard, raised the hairs on my arms, and broke my heart to pieces. I knew I had to give it another star for that alone.

Wow. This was one hell of a book. And that’s a pretty good achievement, considering I was tempted to DNF after about ten pages ...Anika Dragomir is the third most popular girl in school, behind her best friend Shelli and her best frenemy Becky. On the outside, she’s all lip gloss, boobs and blonde hair, but inside, she’s spider stew. Constantly working hard to maintain her social position, she’s fully aware that if she shows one iota of interest to Logan McDonough, who has just come back from the summer break transformed from a loser to a hot fit guy, Becky will take her down to Chinatown. But who needs Logan anyway, when supercool and socially acceptable Jared Kline is asking her out on dates?So yeah, at around page ten I was seriously contemplating giving this book up. I’d read Anika Dragomir’s internal dialogue for all of five minutes and already I despised her. She speaks like a mallrat, she’s ridiculously judgemental and she slut-shames the girl who’s supposed to be her best friend. Jesus, I thought, I don’t think I can stomach another 300-odd pages of this horrible girl.But I plugged on. I’m not entirely sure why - maybe there was something in the narrative that hinted to hidden depths in Anika’s personality, or maybe it was just to see where the plot was going, but I plugged on and bloody hell, I’m so glad I did. This book was such an emotional rollercoaster. Just when I start wondering if I’ve read so many books in my life that none will truly push my buttons again, a book like this comes along and I realise that yes, I have the capacity to be emotionally affected in as many ways as there are authors in the world.So, first I want to talk about Anika. She’s not a pleasant girl. She’s snarky, foul-mouthed, irreverent, casually bigoted and judgemental. But she’s also funny, loyal to the people she loves and grudgingly kind.I’ve read a few reviews from readers who gave this book up because they hated Anika so much, and while obviously other people’s opinions are totally valid, I do wonder whether some people picked this book up thinking they were going to get a hero rather than a protagonist. Where a hero is always the good guy, the protagonist has mixed motives. They have flaws, sometimes lots of them. They’re REAL.Anika is a protagonist. She’s not like ... (racks brains for an example of a hero) ... I dunno, maybe Clary from TMI. Clary is self-sacrificing, loyal, brave, pure - a true hero. Anika is not a hero. She’s having a thing with Logan and hides it from everyone because she’s terrified (with some justification, admittedly) of what everyone (Becky) will think. She’s utterly incapable of being true to herself in this regard, and yet at other times she shows flashes of humanity that took my breath away. This book was sold to me as a version of Mean Girls, but really it’s a lot more than that. And I LOVED Mean Girls.Spoiler AlertOne of the things I loved most about this book, was this scene right at the end, where Anika calls Becky out on her Mean Girl ways and everyone applauds and Becky scuttles off, shamed and (hopefully) repentant. It was incredibly emotional and the whole scene had such a John Hughes feel to it, totally in keeping with the time the book was set in. I could completely imagine Molly Ringwald up there on the podium as Anika and like Shannon Doherty or someone as Becky.The plot is a love triangle mixed in with Anika’s attempts to reconcile her twisted insides with what she thinks she ought to be like and what everyone else expects her to be. The only thing I wanted to see more of was Anika’s relationship with Logan - he was such a sweetheart - but I could see why some aspects were skated over - Anika is so terrified that people will find out, that she can barely even admit her feelings to herself. I’ve read reviews from other readers and it would seem that Anatomy of a Misfit is a Marmite book - you’ll love it or hate it. I’d recommend anyone going in to bear in mind from page one that Anika isn’t a hero and maybe you'll enjoy it too.

Well what the hell. I never saw that coming. I was laughing my face off for about 3/4 of the book and then, surprise! I get it that something would happen due to the fact that there were chapters that seemed like a flashback or something, but what happened was far from my suspicions. Really. Call me stupid or something, but not once had I thought that it will end the way it did. And to top it all, was the author's note. This book is quite depressing. Gaaaah. The story was very light at first, or atleast I thought it was. Anika Dragomir's voice was really hilarious that I can't stop myself from reading it. It was very entertaining at first. Her relationship with her mom, her way of saving, or atleast trying to save those poor victims of Becky, who was her friend (sort of) and #1 most popular girl in school, the mysterious and brooding Logan whom she was in love with, the overrated Jared Klein, her friendship with Shelli with the Christian mom, her work with Mr.Baum. It seemed pretty normal. (Is this non-fiction?) But the ending. God. The ending. It's a bit like Me, and Earl, and the Dying Girl. Everything was funny, till it's not.Don't be fooled by the beginning chapters of this book. It has pretty heavy stuff in it. I can't decide if I loved it or if I hated it.

“You could waste your whole life worrying, you know that?” AWKWARD CONFESSION: I didn't knew this book was passed in the past until I've finished reading it. Which, to my pleasure, explained some of the references and problems in the book. Anatomy of a Misfit was such a fun read. Anika is such an inspirational character. You may not think like me, but I watched her as not only the scared and useless girl she thought of herself: Anika is strong and selfless - and you'll find that with each turn of page.The plot was okay and the writing was okay too - nothing out of the special, to be honest. Although, the end was heartbreaking and totally unexpected. It hit us like a strike. But perhaps, it was what Anika really needed; A true lesson that would stay with her for the rest of her life. We all need them at some point, don't we?I don't think there's much more to say about this book. If you're looking for a fun read, with the 90's vibe and a sacrastic hoe, you've got yourself the right book.

Update 12/25/14 Anatomy of a Misfit was chosen as one of Badass Book Reviews favorite Young Adult/New Adult Contemporary books of 2014. Read all about it here. This is one of the best young adult books that I've read this year. Written in the first person point of view of the main character Anika Dragomir, we get a glimpse of life in small town Nebraska through the eyes of a 15 year old girl who is near the top of the popularity pyramid. Anika has the same worries as everyone else and her life is dictated by the evil queen bee Becky. Only Anika has a mind of her own, a conscience, and she has empathy for others, and much to the chagrin of Becky, she has the hottest guy after her. Anika has a wonderful sense of humor and her observations had me chuckling throughout. Thank you to Edelweiss and Harper Collins for a review copy of this book.

Anika Dragomir is one of the quickest, funniest YA narrators I’ve ever read. Through everything that Anika deals with, she never loses her self-deprecating snark—or she doesn’t until the first serious, unfixable thing that’s ever happened to her forces her to take stock of who she’s really becoming.I loved reading Anika’s take on the mundane parts of high school, and the plot moved quickly ahead once Logan and Jared start vying for her attention. I was so wrapped up in Anika’s hilarious and surprisingly conflicted back-and-forth that I wanted to ignore the foreshadowing chapters that seemed tense, like warnings—but sure enough, the dramatic ending came along and totally caught me. Knowing that the final scene in Anatomy of a Misfit actually happened to the author in real life makes it all so much more emotional.Andrea Portes really nails the teen voice here, in all its messed up, mean girl ways. It was refreshing—can’t wait to read what she writes next.