Everything Sucks - Hannah Friedman

~ Losing My Mind and Finding Myself in a High School Quest for Cool~

Free spirit parents, a live in monkey 'sister', touring Ireland in a band bus while being home schooled, overweight, unpopular, reinventing yourself in a private school, exploring drinking, drugs and sex, losing and finding yourself. Sounds like a great premise for a fiction novel or even a TV pilot doesn't it?

Yes, except that it happens to be the real thing. This is Hannah Friedman's life. And all of the above? All true.

I love this quote from her mother when Hannah objects to going on tour in Ireland.

We have fed you and clothed you and paid for piano lessons and glitter rainbow shoes, and I spent sixteen hours in labour with you, and now we've finally found a competent monkey-sitter after twenty-seven interviews, so you. Are. Going."

Definitely not your typical suburban upbringing. Hannah yearns to be popular and fit in. Academically gifted, she wins a scholarship to a prestigious private school and is able to reinvent herself. Hannah finds herself in THE popular clique. Happy at last. But is she? She begins to experiment with drinking, drugs and sex.

What struck me the most was the brutal honesty in Everything Sucks. Friedman puts it all out there, the disappointment, the anger, the shame, the wondering, the search and the journey to find her place in life. No subject is sacrosanct.

A fantastic read, one I couldn't put down. Hannah's journey to find what's really cool was addicting. I think the book's dedication speaks volumes -

" For everyone who is sure they will never fit in. And for my parents, who taught me that it's just more fun not to."

Friedman is an amazing young woman. She was the youngest person to have an article published in Newsweek magazine - ironically about the battle to get into a 'good' school. Her voice is fresh, funny and real. I hope she continues to write - I'd love to hear about her next 20 years.

You've got to watch the trailer below for the book .... Or read an excerpt ....Or check out her blog....