The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

🌈✨Welcome to the life of Molly Peskin-Suso✨🌈

The plot of The Upside of Unrequited revolves around the 17-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso, a chubby teen who has had twenty-six serious crushes. Molly has never spoken to these crushes and made them aware of her feelings because she fears rejections- this can be attributed to many factors such as her self-image issues that stem from her being “heavy” and being overshadowed by her gorgeous sister, Cassie, to name a few.

The protagonist is a child of a lesbian couple- the fact there is queer parenting displayed in this Young Adult novel is brilliant; they are supportive and understanding. Albertalli hasn’t stopped there with representation- one of the mothers is African- American and they both are Jewish. Cassie, Molly’s twin sister, is also interested in women. There are things that I loved about this novel- Albertalli’s writing is simply wonderful. She has a way with words which attracts readers to read it without taking a break. She has portrayed the familial relationships in a light-hearted manner; the relationship between the sisters is highly realistic- they both support each other while still managing to annoy one another. The characters are crafted well enough. And the plot is well structured. Overall the book is a good read, adorable even.

Although the book checks so many boxes in terms of diversity, it actually is still inadequate. All the queer characters and their struggles are swept under the rug; I wish Albertalli focused a bit more on Molly’s parents and their story- it would have been interesting to read about their struggles with the society and them having babies through IVF. Cassie’s relationship with her girlfriend, Mina is cute, sure, but their relationship is quite bland as in it is mostly depicted as all rainbows and unicorns, and do not show the struggles of being in a queer relationship.

In my opinion, the representation of queer characters in this novel is distasteful.

Another factor that is dealt with in a poor manner is mental health- Molly is shown to take heavy antidepressants and the writer also touches upon Molly’s mental health issues and how serious they are, but the issue lies in the fact that Molly has not been shown to going to a psychiatrist to be prescribed these medications in the first place. It seems as if the theme of mental health issues is employed as a token theme- they are important to the storyline but not much attention is paid to it.

In conclusion, the book is nice to read. It is pleasant and cute and does make readers laugh here and there. And although there is a representation of the LBTQ+ community, it is simply not enough. I would suggest you read it for what it is- a fluffy Young Adult romance novel with a relatable protagonist and her journey of finding love but to label it as a diverse novel in terms of race and sexuality is a bit of a stretch.