Book Review-Finding Audrey

Title: Finding Audrey
Author: Sophie Kinsella 
Genre: Young Adult
Paperback: 299

“I think what I've realized is, life is all about climbing up, slipping down, and picking yourself up again"

Sophie Kinsella is my guilty pleasure writer. I loved her shopaholic series and several other stand alone novels. Mostly her characters are hilarious, ridiculous, and will have you in splits. Some say Kinsella's genre is chic-lit, and I dislike the word chic-lit attached to any books for that matter.

Audrey, a 14-year-old girl suffers from social anxiety disorder after a disturbing incident of bullying at her school. The gang of girls responsible for this was suspended. Audrey stays in home, wears dark glasses even at home to avoid eye contact with anybody and everybody. she is mostly home-schooled and is hopeful to go to a different school the next academic year. She has a therapist named Dr. Sarah who is helping Audrey to get better slowly and steadily. Though proactive about recovery, Audrey feels she is not inching towards the goal faster. One fine day she meets Linus, her brother's friend and things start to look up. They befriend and Linus sets few challenges for her to achieve as a part of exposure therapy to overcome her anxiety. 

Kinsella writes about a mental illness in a light-hearted manner. The family dynamics is hilarious and cute. Audrey's Daily Mail obsessed mother who thinks playing video game is bad and hell-bend on sending her son to more outdoor activities. Her father is typical "Yes Man" who is always on his blackberry and agrees with everything his wife says. Both the characters are cliched, but evokes giggle on many occasions. Frank, Audrey's brother is my favourite who is hooked to the LOC (Land of conqueror) game. His constant bickering with his mother had me in snort to no end. He is manipulative, naughty, and grumpy, typical for a teenager.  He is a supportive and understanding brother who goes out of his way to make her feel better. The love story between Linus and Audrey is okay nothing earth shattering. And mental illness doesn't get automatically cured by a lover. She had a very supportive and protective family, so there is no lack of love and affection in her life. Her recovery graph elevated without much glitches, which is quite impossible in real life. Thankfully they haven't showed Audrey completely getting cured from anxiety disorder. I wished there was a small chapter explaining the bullying incident that triggered Audrey's anxiety. We were given insight and clues here and there about the incident and I know it is left to reader's imagination.

It is an easy read and one can finish within 3 hours in a go. For me there can never be a bad book. This one had me in cackles several times.