The Manifesto on How to be Interesting by Holly Bourne: Book review

The Manifesto on How to be Interesting
Book title/ Author: The Manifesto on How to be
Interesting by Holly Bourne
Publisher/ Year: August 1st 2014 Usborne
Genre: YA Contemporary
Series: No
Pages: 464
Source/ Format: Paperback | Borrowed from friend
Rating: 5 stars out of 5

*This review may contain spoilers!*

Synopsis

Apparently I'm boring. A nobody. But that's all about to change. Because I am starting a project. Here. Now. For myself. And if you want to come along for the ride then you're very welcome.

Bree is a loser, a wannabe author who hides behind words. Most of the time she hates her life, her school, her never-there parents. So she writes.

But when she's told she needs to start living a life worth writing about, The Manifesto on How to be Interesting is born. Six steps that will see her infiltrate the popular set, fall in love with someone forbidden and make the biggest mistake of her life. 

My review

I had heard of Holly Bourne prior to this book, but never picked up Soulmates as there were always books I wanted more. However when my best friend told me I HAD to read this, I borrowed it from her straight away as I always trust her judgement in books. I also didn't realise that Holly is a UK author, which is great because it's nice to see more of them.

The setting was very interesting, as it is one I have never encountered in a book before, but it's not unfamiliar to me in real life. I guess sixth form in the UK is basically our equivalent to the last two years of high school, which is a very common setting in YA literature. The range of characters wasn't unrealistic, but it was a good variety. We had the obvious mean girls, and the sporty popular boys, and then the cultured nobodies like Bree and Holdo. At first I didn't expect Bree to have that sort of background. I assumed that as she was labelled as a "nobody", that she wouldn't have much of a personality or an opinion on things, but I clearly assumed wrong. The mean girls in this book were definitely on the extreme side of the scales when it comes to bullies, but it was quite accurate. The things that they did in this book were quite normal, although terrible.

Bree had a lot of faults but I liked that about her, because it helped to make both her and the book in general more relatable. She screws things up sometimes, and she equally makes both some good and bad decisions, but luckily everything seems to work itself out in the end. I would also like to just quickly mention how appreciative I am towards Holly for managing to subtly include self-harm as a both big and small part of this book; she doesn't let it take over, but she also makes sure that it is presented in the right way and not made into a big deal.

This book was a huge pleasant surprise for me, and I would even consider it to already be one of my favourite books of 2015. Please do yourself a favour and pick up this awesome book!

Izzy

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hate at First Sight by Lizzie O'Hagan | Book Review

Severed Heads, Broken Hearts by Robyn Schneider: Book review

January 2024 Mini Reviews - part 3