What do you think?
Rate this book
Unusual Confusion
"I was an outsider all my life. The only people in this world that wanted me were my family. But I had a way of escaping that world. I had my own world."
Lexi Miller never had any friends. She was the type of girl who would always get bullied, sit in a corner by herself at break, never put her hand up in class. She kept quiet, to not make the situation worse. She was a freak, and with psychic powers too. At age 5 she discovered a weird secret about herself - she could teleport to her very own dimension, which she used as a coping mechanism. But as it usually happens in story beginnings like these, someone comes along and saves the lonely main character. The "hero" in this book is the new girl Melodine Saunders. Lexi is confused about her feelings, the butterflies in her stomach fluttering stronger every time the girls meet. Gradually, she starts working things out and everything is finally going as planned. Until one day, unusual things - more unusual than normal, that is - start happening. Lexi shrugs them off, but you can't put things off forever...
Lexi Miller never had any friends. She was the type of girl who would always get bullied, sit in a corner by herself at break, never put her hand up in class. She kept quiet, to not make the situation worse. She was a freak, and with psychic powers too. At age 5 she discovered a weird secret about herself - she could teleport to her very own dimension, which she used as a coping mechanism. But as it usually happens in story beginnings like these, someone comes along and saves the lonely main character. The "hero" in this book is the new girl Melodine Saunders. Lexi is confused about her feelings, the butterflies in her stomach fluttering stronger every time the girls meet. Gradually, she starts working things out and everything is finally going as planned. Until one day, unusual things - more unusual than normal, that is - start happening. Lexi shrugs them off, but you can't put things off forever...
118 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 25, 2020
2 people are currently reading
4 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 2, 2020
Sometimes the quiet kids are the most interesting ones of them all.
Lexi was a well-developed and sympathetic character. One of the things I liked the most about her was how realistically her voice was written. She acted and sounded exactly like a young teen her age should act and sound. That isn’t an easy thing to accomplish by any means! Ms. Almond put a lot of effort into this subtle but important part of writing this genre, and her hard work was appreciated by this reader.
I would have preferred to see more time spent developing the sections of the plot that talked about Lexi’s ability to transport to her own dimension. It was nothing like what I expected it to be. As fascinated as I was by the explanation for how this worked and why it wasn’t part of the science fiction genre like I originally assumed, it sure would have been nice to have more information here.
The subplot of this story about bullying was handled sensitively. Some of the best scenes in it involved how the adults in Lexi’s life reacted to hearing about the way she was mistreated by certain classmates. Their responses were as compassionate as they were realistic. I also enjoyed reading about how Lexi herself coped with all of the teasing. That’s a difficult thing for any kid to go through, and her coping mechanisms were good ones.
Unusual Confusion should be read by any preteen or teen who feels lonely or misunderstood.
Lexi was a well-developed and sympathetic character. One of the things I liked the most about her was how realistically her voice was written. She acted and sounded exactly like a young teen her age should act and sound. That isn’t an easy thing to accomplish by any means! Ms. Almond put a lot of effort into this subtle but important part of writing this genre, and her hard work was appreciated by this reader.
I would have preferred to see more time spent developing the sections of the plot that talked about Lexi’s ability to transport to her own dimension. It was nothing like what I expected it to be. As fascinated as I was by the explanation for how this worked and why it wasn’t part of the science fiction genre like I originally assumed, it sure would have been nice to have more information here.
The subplot of this story about bullying was handled sensitively. Some of the best scenes in it involved how the adults in Lexi’s life reacted to hearing about the way she was mistreated by certain classmates. Their responses were as compassionate as they were realistic. I also enjoyed reading about how Lexi herself coped with all of the teasing. That’s a difficult thing for any kid to go through, and her coping mechanisms were good ones.
Unusual Confusion should be read by any preteen or teen who feels lonely or misunderstood.
August 3, 2020
Can we just start by having a look at this book cover? Isn't it glorious? The teenage me is quite jealous right now. If only I had this book back in the day, I would have never let go of it. It would have taken centre stage right on my bookshelf with pride. Then again, I've always been a sucker for a good book cover. But aren't we all?
So, where should I begin? Lets have a talk on the synopsis...
The story is focussed on one girl in particular, her name Lexi Miller and her trials as young girl who doesn't believe in herself. She has been suffering with some form of mental illness, which she calls Solitary and keeps this knowledge to herself. She is also coming to terms with her sexual orientation, while battling the problems with everyday life at school. This also deals with the profound effect of bullying and how this shapes us to become the people who we all grow up to be. As well as death and how we come to rely on people, when really we should realise that we all have the strength to rely on ourselves.
I found this book interesting. The writing style is like she is speaking to you, almost like you are intruding her diary and peeling back her feelings and the type of person that she really is inside which no one gets to see other than herself. I'm pleased in this regard as I can actually see myself when I was young and at school, where I possessed similar feelings of this kind.
The book length itself I believe to be perfect in regards to the age group. It's short, it's sweet, it gets to the point. Not many young people have a good attention span, especially with so many other distractions. So I think that it is a brilliant book to start with if you want your children to begin to read by themselves. It is also a good short read for anyone over the age range for a few hours if you want to pick up a book which is different. Personally I read this book in an hour.
I'm not going to lie, it was not the most perfect book, but this is only the beginning. However, I'm very intrigued as to what is next for Ada Almond and that is the exciting part of it all. The only way is up.
Even though there can be seen to be many teething problems in the book, I can say there are some moments which really seem to shine and would seem to present itself to a young age group as being profound to them individually. There is one quote for instance, that I still think about. Not only because it is one of the better pieces of writing throughout the book, but would also resonate with so many people in the same situation as Lexi.
'There are people who are homosexual, and people who are heterosexual, and bisexual, pansexual and all those sexual orientations, each of them unique and valid. There will be people who will say that you're weird, not normal. There will be people who will say you will die in hell and are full of sin. They won't accept you, and that's just how life works. But the trick is not to listen to those people.'
This also brings me on to another problem that I found within this book, relationships and character development. Because of the way that the book was written, you really get to understand what is in Lexi's head at the time and what she considers to be important. However, this also takes out what it would have meant to have more of a character arc for both Melodine, the girl she likes and her family. I really do feel like it was an opportunity missed here. I would have really liked to see all these characters take more of a centre stage within the book and have their own goals and how this would make them the characters that Lexi is shown to see. Otherwise, it can feel a little two-dimensional.
On the other hand, I must praise the ending. I have known many people suffering from the same mental illness which Lexi is informed to have and would have loved this when they first began suffering themselves. In fact, I know of plenty of people suffering from all sorts of mental illness where they have felt worthless and not wanting to bother anyone's time. So this ending is what I believe for many people suffering, not necessarily what Lexi is suffering from herself, but all across the board. I must admit I did shed a tear and that is not an easy feat!
So, after much deliberation, I think I am going to give this book a three star. This is because I felt like it has a good premise and message. However, there is some points that could be improved, which I am sure whatever happens next for Ada Almond will be an interesting one indeed.
So, where should I begin? Lets have a talk on the synopsis...
The story is focussed on one girl in particular, her name Lexi Miller and her trials as young girl who doesn't believe in herself. She has been suffering with some form of mental illness, which she calls Solitary and keeps this knowledge to herself. She is also coming to terms with her sexual orientation, while battling the problems with everyday life at school. This also deals with the profound effect of bullying and how this shapes us to become the people who we all grow up to be. As well as death and how we come to rely on people, when really we should realise that we all have the strength to rely on ourselves.
I found this book interesting. The writing style is like she is speaking to you, almost like you are intruding her diary and peeling back her feelings and the type of person that she really is inside which no one gets to see other than herself. I'm pleased in this regard as I can actually see myself when I was young and at school, where I possessed similar feelings of this kind.
The book length itself I believe to be perfect in regards to the age group. It's short, it's sweet, it gets to the point. Not many young people have a good attention span, especially with so many other distractions. So I think that it is a brilliant book to start with if you want your children to begin to read by themselves. It is also a good short read for anyone over the age range for a few hours if you want to pick up a book which is different. Personally I read this book in an hour.
I'm not going to lie, it was not the most perfect book, but this is only the beginning. However, I'm very intrigued as to what is next for Ada Almond and that is the exciting part of it all. The only way is up.
Even though there can be seen to be many teething problems in the book, I can say there are some moments which really seem to shine and would seem to present itself to a young age group as being profound to them individually. There is one quote for instance, that I still think about. Not only because it is one of the better pieces of writing throughout the book, but would also resonate with so many people in the same situation as Lexi.
'There are people who are homosexual, and people who are heterosexual, and bisexual, pansexual and all those sexual orientations, each of them unique and valid. There will be people who will say that you're weird, not normal. There will be people who will say you will die in hell and are full of sin. They won't accept you, and that's just how life works. But the trick is not to listen to those people.'
This also brings me on to another problem that I found within this book, relationships and character development. Because of the way that the book was written, you really get to understand what is in Lexi's head at the time and what she considers to be important. However, this also takes out what it would have meant to have more of a character arc for both Melodine, the girl she likes and her family. I really do feel like it was an opportunity missed here. I would have really liked to see all these characters take more of a centre stage within the book and have their own goals and how this would make them the characters that Lexi is shown to see. Otherwise, it can feel a little two-dimensional.
On the other hand, I must praise the ending. I have known many people suffering from the same mental illness which Lexi is informed to have and would have loved this when they first began suffering themselves. In fact, I know of plenty of people suffering from all sorts of mental illness where they have felt worthless and not wanting to bother anyone's time. So this ending is what I believe for many people suffering, not necessarily what Lexi is suffering from herself, but all across the board. I must admit I did shed a tear and that is not an easy feat!
So, after much deliberation, I think I am going to give this book a three star. This is because I felt like it has a good premise and message. However, there is some points that could be improved, which I am sure whatever happens next for Ada Almond will be an interesting one indeed.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews