A review by imashamedofmyoldreviews
Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

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.