Review: Weird Girl and What’s His Name by Meagan Brothers

In the podunk town of Hawthorne, North Carolina, high school geeks Lula and Rory share everything—sci-fi and fantasy fandom, an obsession with old X-Files episodes, and that feeling that they’ll never quite fit in. Lula and Rory have no secrets from each other; after all, she knows he’s gay, and he understands why she worships the mother that walked out on her. But then Lula discovers that Rory has not only tried out for the football team, but has been having an affair with his middle-aged divorcee boss. With their friendship disrupted, Lula begins to question her very identity, and when she disappears in the middle of the night, Rory is left to survive on his own. ~ Goodreads

Source: Purchased

Review: Stunning cover and eye catching title! I have to say this book wasn’t anything that I was expecting. I bought it based on a recommendation from Jen at YA Romantics, then forgot to read it for months. When I finally picked it back up I went in cold turkey, without re-reading the summary. I need to do that more often.

Rory and Lula are best friends, living in a small southern town that doesn’t quite appreciate their oddball qualities – hence the names *Weird Girl & What’s His Name*. But they have each other and their X-Files obsession. Until Lula realizes that Rory has been keeping secrets.

Weird Girl and What’s His Name didn’t hook me in right away. Lula and Rory are those quirky, smarter than average book teens, surrounded by equally quirky adults. That kind of writing always creates a distance for me. Once I got going (around the 50 page mark) {most of }the quirks fell away and there was a more nuanced portrayal of what they were going through.

When this book is good – it’s very good. It does an excellent job of exploring teen sexuality; first loves, confusion and the heartbreak we feel with misplaced affections.

It also does an excellent job of showing how complicated family can be and that your birth family isn’t your only family. I especially loved Lula’s interactions with her mom, who abandoned her as a baby. Her mom, Chris, just wasn’t maternal. There was no classic happy reunion, and while she can definitely be considered unlikable at times, Chris wasn’t written as a villain or shamed for her choices. It was messy, complicated and real.

Weird Girl and What’s His Name is at it’s best when it’s busting tropes and stereotypes and digging deeper into what it means to feel like you’re different from everyone else…

“But if you haven’t figured it out by now, then let me assure you, Lula – nobody’s normal. And pretty much everyone is trying to figure out how to be a so-called “normal person.” As if it’s some fixed point you reach, like zero degree Celsius. But everybody’s just who they are. Weird, flawed, good at some things, bad at others.”

However, I felt the author relied too heavily on quirk and pop culture references. It works most of the time but at others it wears thin. I think that will vary by reader though – some people really love that in a book but for me – it took away from some of the depth of the story.

Despite a few quibbles, I really enjoyed this one and recommend it to readers who are looking for a realistic portrayal of teens exploring their sexuality and what it means to be an outsider.

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Weird Girl and What's His Name is part of my Blogger Shame review Challenge

hosted by Herding Cats & Burning Soup to clear out those older books that keep getting pushed aside because...Ooh! New! Shiny!

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