How Feminist Dystopian Fiction Is Channeling Women’s Anger and Anxiety

NYTimes 10/8/18: How Feminist Dystopian Fiction is Channeling Women's Anger and Anxiety by Alexandra Alter

how not to be popular

Confessions of a Teenage Leper by Ashley Little
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction, YA
Review: What happens when the presumptive prom queen finds out she has Hansen's Disease?  You get some really great moral lessons about the difference between being beautiful on the outside and on the inside.  Fortunately, Little inhabits her character so well that the talk of inner beauty goes down smoothly and the focus remains on Abby and her struggle to be healthy and to find a new path for her life.  Abby's voice is so vivid that the pages of the book seem to turn themselves as she goes from mis-diagnosis to mis-diagnosis to treatment to beginning to heal.

For all the cliches about inner beauty, there's a lot packed into this book. Abby has to deal with all the usual high school angst around parties, sex, friends, and her brother.  As a result, she's a very relatable character, neither saint nor sinner, but just a flawed teenager who you can't help rooting for.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.