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A review by anyaemilie
Off the Record by Camryn Garrett
5.0
Thank you to Knopf Books for Young Readers (via NetGalley) for the ARC!
Content warnings:
Some vague spoilery things below? Kinda? Proceed at your own risk. I didn't want to block out the whole review but I couldn't find a good place to block out spoilers
I am still very wound up from the last 25% of this book, but I am going to try to write a cohesive review!
Josie Wright is in her last year of high school, and the one thing she’s sure about in her life is her writing. She has anxiety, she’s fat (which she has made her peace with), and she doesn’t have any close friends. But damn, she knows she’s a good writer. She’s only 17, but she’s already had articles published, and this contest to write a profile for an up-and-coming actor for a major magazine is just the next step in what promises to be a prolific journalistic career. Josie is invited on a press tour to write a profile for Marius Canet, a young actor who is about to make it big, hopefully with the help of Josie’s in-depth reporting. However, while on the tour, Josie is approached by one of Marius’ costars, Penny, about Roy Lennox, a renowned and beloved Hollywood director. Marius has just signed on to be in Lennox’s next movie and Penny reveals to Josie that Lennox sexually harassed her on the set of an earlier film at the beginning of Penny’s career. Josie is floored by this news, and now she has to decide whether she can take on Penny’s story, and the stories of the countless other women Lennox has abused, and if she can even do that while doing justice to her original assignment.
There is a lot going on in this book! There was a point when I was about 70% of the way through that I wasn’t sure how all the different plot threads were going to be wrapped up, but I thought it ended strongly.
I really liked the anxiety rep in this book. Josie has anxiety, and it manifests itself in many ways throughout the book. She is aware of it, and she tries to handle it, but sometimes she lets it get in the way of things. There was an especially poignant scene with her sister Alice that I liked: she reminded Josie that just because she has anxiety doesn’t mean she isn’t allowed to be emotional. Josie spent a lot of the time trying to hide her anxiety or to not let it get in the way or bother those around her, but Alice reminded her that so many people have it, and that Josie shouldn’t think of it as being a burden. It shouldn't be something you have to carry on your own or something to be ashamed of, which I thought was a powerful message.
Josie’s fatness is also an important part of her character and of her development. She says at the beginning of the book she knows she is fat, and she doesn’t want people to dance around that fact, or be afraid to use the word. But she still suffers from some insecurities around it. She looks at her sisters and is envious of how beautiful and thin they are. She makes sure to vocalize to herself that she is beautiful as well, but with so much of society telling us fat people are not and cannot be beautiful, it’s hard! So being 17 and already being that self-aware is an achievement. It’s impossible not to fall back into the trap of idolizing the thin (and let’s be real, mostly white) bodies that we are told are the epitome of beauty. Josie finds herself beautiful, but still worries about what other people think of her. As a fat Black girl, she knows she’s not put forth as the standard of beauty, no matter what she thinks of herself, so a little insecurity about other people’s opinions is natural! I think this is handled gracefully and realistically throughout the book, and I couldn’t help but empathize with Josie on this particular subject.
I want to talk a little bit about the plot here before I wrap things up. It took me longer to read this book than my usual rate (10 days as opposed to my usual 2 or 3 for YA contemporary). The beginning was a tad slow for me, but things started picking up around the halfway point. The last quarter of the book was so fast and furious, and it felt like I was living the action right alongside Josie! I don’t want to spoil anything, but Garrett really brings you right in the middle of all the action of the last act of the book, and it is super engaging, and honestly a big part of why I gave this book 5 stars.
Overall, a really great sophomore effort from Camryn Garrett, and a super timely addition to the YA contemporary genre! I really hope it resonates with teen readers because it has an important message while not being preachy at all. And a cute romance thrown in for a bonus!
Content warnings:
Spoiler
sexual assault (multiple instances mentioned, one described on page in memory), body imageSome vague spoilery things below? Kinda? Proceed at your own risk. I didn't want to block out the whole review but I couldn't find a good place to block out spoilers
I am still very wound up from the last 25% of this book, but I am going to try to write a cohesive review!
Josie Wright is in her last year of high school, and the one thing she’s sure about in her life is her writing. She has anxiety, she’s fat (which she has made her peace with), and she doesn’t have any close friends. But damn, she knows she’s a good writer. She’s only 17, but she’s already had articles published, and this contest to write a profile for an up-and-coming actor for a major magazine is just the next step in what promises to be a prolific journalistic career. Josie is invited on a press tour to write a profile for Marius Canet, a young actor who is about to make it big, hopefully with the help of Josie’s in-depth reporting. However, while on the tour, Josie is approached by one of Marius’ costars, Penny, about Roy Lennox, a renowned and beloved Hollywood director. Marius has just signed on to be in Lennox’s next movie and Penny reveals to Josie that Lennox sexually harassed her on the set of an earlier film at the beginning of Penny’s career. Josie is floored by this news, and now she has to decide whether she can take on Penny’s story, and the stories of the countless other women Lennox has abused, and if she can even do that while doing justice to her original assignment.
There is a lot going on in this book! There was a point when I was about 70% of the way through that I wasn’t sure how all the different plot threads were going to be wrapped up, but I thought it ended strongly.
I really liked the anxiety rep in this book. Josie has anxiety, and it manifests itself in many ways throughout the book. She is aware of it, and she tries to handle it, but sometimes she lets it get in the way of things. There was an especially poignant scene with her sister Alice that I liked: she reminded Josie that just because she has anxiety doesn’t mean she isn’t allowed to be emotional. Josie spent a lot of the time trying to hide her anxiety or to not let it get in the way or bother those around her, but Alice reminded her that so many people have it, and that Josie shouldn’t think of it as being a burden. It shouldn't be something you have to carry on your own or something to be ashamed of, which I thought was a powerful message.
Josie’s fatness is also an important part of her character and of her development. She says at the beginning of the book she knows she is fat, and she doesn’t want people to dance around that fact, or be afraid to use the word. But she still suffers from some insecurities around it. She looks at her sisters and is envious of how beautiful and thin they are. She makes sure to vocalize to herself that she is beautiful as well, but with so much of society telling us fat people are not and cannot be beautiful, it’s hard! So being 17 and already being that self-aware is an achievement. It’s impossible not to fall back into the trap of idolizing the thin (and let’s be real, mostly white) bodies that we are told are the epitome of beauty. Josie finds herself beautiful, but still worries about what other people think of her. As a fat Black girl, she knows she’s not put forth as the standard of beauty, no matter what she thinks of herself, so a little insecurity about other people’s opinions is natural! I think this is handled gracefully and realistically throughout the book, and I couldn’t help but empathize with Josie on this particular subject.
I want to talk a little bit about the plot here before I wrap things up. It took me longer to read this book than my usual rate (10 days as opposed to my usual 2 or 3 for YA contemporary). The beginning was a tad slow for me, but things started picking up around the halfway point. The last quarter of the book was so fast and furious, and it felt like I was living the action right alongside Josie! I don’t want to spoil anything, but Garrett really brings you right in the middle of all the action of the last act of the book, and it is super engaging, and honestly a big part of why I gave this book 5 stars.
Overall, a really great sophomore effort from Camryn Garrett, and a super timely addition to the YA contemporary genre! I really hope it resonates with teen readers because it has an important message while not being preachy at all. And a cute romance thrown in for a bonus!