Reviews

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

agenderberry335's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

librosdenopal's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

this had so much promise and there is a really great and necessary story among the 63 chapters but it’s power is taken away by the convoluted b/c storyline. 

this book is powerful when it comes to Alex’s true story & struggles. Zappia really does a beautiful job at giving the reader a heart wrenching glimpse into what it’s like being schizophrenic and/or having issues with reality. plus the characters are cute and their growth is really well done.

we need more heartfelt and authentic stories related to mental illness + shitty, abusive parents + what it’s like to not understand the world or emotions + still fall in love. BUT the whole odd b story is painfully convoluted and fails in the pay off. honestly, it felt shoved in to keep the main story and heavier themes accessible. which, if true, just sucks because we need stories like this and they shouldn’t have to be sugarcoated.

i was soooo hoping for more but it ends up being way too long and fizzles. really wish Zappia would write it again and focus on the true story because there is so much there and that part is so, so good. 

aysha_567's review

4.0

Oh!!

spookynerd13's review

4.0

I really enjoyed reading this one! At times it was very confusing, but that just made me wonder what it would actually be like to live with schizophrenia and not be able to tell what was true and what was hallucination. Really liked the characters, but felt there were too many plots going on at the same time. Have it 3.5/5 stars

linalilo97's review

2.0

it’s 3 am in the morning

illiteratepaige's review

4.5

this book was completely and utterly incredible. it left me in complete awe. learning about new things brings a completely warm and beautiful feeling to me and this book taught me so much. it informed me of schizophrenia and paranoia. it taught me about teenagers with different struggles. it showed me love with no boundaries. it made me believe in alex. i don’t think that a story more well-written or beautifully true will fall into my hands anytime soon

imashamedofmyoldreviews's review

I have read just two books by francesca zappia but man. The way she takes on coming of age. She speaks of it like it's all part of growing up and infuses that sense of teenage self-aware stupidity, energy, randomness but also dread, awkwardness and hopelessness together and makes it work in a story. "Made You Up" reminded me so much of John Green's Looking for Alaska, in that sense. It's a buckwild adventure to read, even though it takes place in places that would otherwise be completely real- a sense of suspension of the ordinary, welcoming a new sort of normal that we can always relate to for the most part- but only almost. The way she describes mental illness! The way she respects that it feels hopeless, that it can be a joke sometimes, that it can be conflicting and confusing to play the role of someone who knows they're not fine. There are so many things I loved about this.
I know a lot of people are pissed about the badly done rep fod schizophrenia and honestly, you're all so valid there. I thought I should mention that. You deserve better representation.
I really appreciate how Francesca stays true to the characters at all turns. They're, as Tucker put it, people who do stupid things. They would be bad people in a lot of ways, and good in lots too. But good or bad is not what we're here to be. We're here to just be.
I don't know how I feel about the ending, but right now I don't want to have an opinion.

leigh_reidelberger's review

3.0

Alright.
I picked up "Made You Up" from a Goodreads Deal of the Day. the summary sounded interesting.
I read some reviews, many glowing, many damning.
here's what I'll say- Made You Up is a pretty cookie cutter YA formula. it's like Zappia had these columns of predictability that she chose from to build the story.
Mental illness? check.
Dark, mysterious love interest? check.
Misunderstood protagonist? check.
the list goes on and on.
So, she builds this story with all the common ingredients. it was easy from the get go to see what was going to happen. one particularly glaring disappointment was the "mystery" the author tried to create between the principal, Celia, and her mother. if that didn't scream obvious, I don't know what would.
the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys side theme with Alex, Miles, Tucker, etc, was poorly thought out. it was kind of a shell.

The schizophrenia storyline... honestly, while I'm not an expert in the field, it did kind of feel like the author read a couple psychology books and picked out the aspects she liked the most and inserted those into Alex. I can see why that would upset people. it's not the greatest portrayal of schizophrenia.

I didn't hate this book, but I'm definitely whatever about it. I'm sure it's a big hit with its target audience - YA.

vespertilioo's review

emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

stay_truetoyourshelf's review

4.0

This book was so much different than I expected. I do not know much about schizophrenia, but this book made it feel so real, unlike other books of its kind. I could almost see the hallucinations, and I was just as flabbergasted as Alex was when it was revealed that some of them weren’t real. While schizophrenia was the main mental illness discussed in this book, there were so many that got realistic representation. There are examples of PTSD, possible autism, depression, anxiety, and psychopathy in a wide range of characters. The characters were all brilliantly written and I didn’t find myself hating any of them— they all seemed to be simply misunderstood. But I am also left with questions— mostly about Alex’s hallucinations. But, I do understand why Zappia left them unanswered. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy books about reality and don’t mind a more triggering storyline.