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A review by tessa_grayreading
The Best Worst Thing by Kathleen Lane
2.0
I just expected something very different from this book. When the synopsis said "injustices" I thought this was going to be about racism and feminism and the likes, something meaningful, instead this book is just about a very anxious 10-year old. And I hate kids.
I could relate to her anxiety, losing friends and being afraid of what people will think of you, but I found it absolutely exhausting and off-putting to be in the mind of a child who doesn't know anything. It makes sense, it makes sense that she is so scared about stupid stuff, that she doesn't know anything, doesn't see how bad this one kid has it, how her mom is making her older sister hate her body, so really the book did nothing wrong, but I really didn't like it. Like I said, I hate kids, so this may have been my own fault, but then again I think the synopsis is very misleading.
I think it's very sad that no one is helping her even though she obviously has some serious anxiety and maybe even OCD issues (which everyone is ignoring because she's just "odd"), it's very sad that no one cares about how their mom's constant dieting is affecting the oldest daughter and how everyone assumes it's because of her being a hormonal teenager, it's very sad how the mom is blamed for the father's absence, it's very sad how the anxiety of the youngest daughter is ignored and only her coping mechanisms reprimanded, it's very sad how apparently no one cares that this one kid is being, at best, neglected, it's very sad that the MC's reaction to being told about Martin Luther King Jr. is "at least I'm not black so no one is looking at me while we talk about this". None of this is addressed, however. It's just for me to read and understand while the MC doesn't, but at least she seems to magically heal at the end of the story even though only one of the issues that she was worried about (and that the rest of us are worrying about) is solved.
I'm sure this has some merit to a lot of people out there, the rating isn't that bad after all, but for me this wasn't what I wanted and expected from the synopsis and I didn't really get anything out of this.
I could relate to her anxiety, losing friends and being afraid of what people will think of you, but I found it absolutely exhausting and off-putting to be in the mind of a child who doesn't know anything. It makes sense, it makes sense that she is so scared about stupid stuff, that she doesn't know anything, doesn't see how bad this one kid has it, how her mom is making her older sister hate her body, so really the book did nothing wrong, but I really didn't like it. Like I said, I hate kids, so this may have been my own fault, but then again I think the synopsis is very misleading.
I think it's very sad that no one is helping her even though she obviously has some serious anxiety and maybe even OCD issues (which everyone is ignoring because she's just "odd"), it's very sad that no one cares about how their mom's constant dieting is affecting the oldest daughter and how everyone assumes it's because of her being a hormonal teenager, it's very sad how the mom is blamed for the father's absence, it's very sad how the anxiety of the youngest daughter is ignored and only her coping mechanisms reprimanded, it's very sad how apparently no one cares that this one kid is being, at best, neglected, it's very sad that the MC's reaction to being told about Martin Luther King Jr. is "at least I'm not black so no one is looking at me while we talk about this". None of this is addressed, however. It's just for me to read and understand while the MC doesn't, but at least she seems to magically heal at the end of the story even though only one of the issues that she was worried about (and that the rest of us are worrying about) is solved.
I'm sure this has some merit to a lot of people out there, the rating isn't that bad after all, but for me this wasn't what I wanted and expected from the synopsis and I didn't really get anything out of this.