Finding Audrey - Sophie Kinsella

Finding Audrey – Sophie Kinsella

Finding Audrey is Sophie Kinsella’s first YA book. It is also the first book of hers that i have picked up and read. I have always been aware of her shopaholic series, as well as her stand alone novels, and even have a few on my book shelf that have been lent to me, but i have simply never got round to reading them. After Finding Audrey i am most certainly going to be picking them up and giving them a read. As Kinsella is a brilliant writer and Finding Audrey was an amazing read.

‘An anxiety disorder disrupts fourteen-year-old Audrey’s daily life. She has been making slow but steady progress with Dr. Sarah, but when Audrey meets Linus, her brother’s gaming teammate, she is energized. She connects with him. Audrey can talk through her fears with Linus in a way she’s never been able to do with anyone before. As their friendship deepens and her recovery gains momentum, a sweet romantic connection develops, one that helps not just Audrey but also her entire family.’

This is the first novel i have read that has covered a main characters story, of dealing with anxiety. I have to say, there is so much about anxiety that i wasn’t aware of, the extremes of it. The difficulties it can create and just how debilitating it can be to a person’s life. It was truly fascinating and moving to read this story about Audrey and the struggles she faces dealing with such a level of anxiety. 

Sophie Kinsella’s writing of this was truly brilliant, you really felt for Audrey, and you really willed her along in her stages of recovery. It was fascinating how Kinsella chose to not divulge the information that triggered Audrey to now be where she is, out of school, cut off from the world, hidden away behind dark sunglasses due to her fear of eye contact. But i felt this added to the story, as it was irrelevant in getting to know the characters and the situation at hand. You didn’t need to know what had caused it, but all that mattered was helping Audrey along the way. Although, i think at the end, my curiosity still peaked at wanting to know what exactly did cause all this.

Audrey’s family were brilliant aspects to this novel, supportive of their sister as she deals with her illness, as well as providing some humorous moments for us as readers. We have Audrey’s overbearing and protective mother, who is addicted to the Daily Mail, and any topic covered by it, the latest in this story is about teenage addiction to computer games. This leads to a hilarious battle between Frank, Audrey’s older brother, and their mother (and reluctantly father too) it was evident as the story went on, that is was possible that since their mother no longer ‘worked’ whilst her daughter was home ill, she had become fixated on stories covered by the paper, and wanting to fix such things amongst her family. I really felt for Frank in this, as he truly took the brunt of his mother’s fixation, and the ongoing battle of playing LOC. His mother also went incredibly far with her anti computer games, and i honestly would not have coped if my mother had ever acted like that towards me as it was incredibly annoying.

I really enjoyed Frank’s character, he was funny, witty and incredibly smart, all be it his mother overlooks this due to the fact he plays computer games. However i thought he was a great support system for his sister Audrey. He also brought his friend Linus to the house, to which is a massive factor to Audrey’s first steps to recovery, and i feel that without this introduction, i don’t know if Audrey would have had the belief she needed in herself to get herself on track to getting better. I wasn’t a great fan of the insta love in this, but it was nice to see how it helped Audrey, even if it wasn’t as believable as i had hoped to us the readers.

I found Audrey’s relationship with Felix, her little brother, adorable. With him she was comfortable enough to release herself from the darkness of the shades she wore, and look into the innocent and young eyes of her baby brother. 

Overall the story in Finding Audrey is really quite telling and moving, it is certainly one bumpy journey, just like the jagged graph Doctor Sarah created with Audrey, but it is a great story of someone dealing with anxiety and overcoming those troubles, it is also a funny and moving romance, of relationships being developed, through stages of recovery. Which i found truly amazing, especially to witness the patience and tasks that were given to Audrey. There was a genuine care and belief in her, which i feel really enabled her to overcome a lot. It really was a focus on her psychological recovery of an incredibly traumatic event which changed her life, but the moral of that story is, that life is all about ups and downs, and it can all be overcome as it wouldn’t be life if you weren’t knocked on your ass at least once, as it is how you truly grow as a person, when climbing your way back up out of that rut. It is only then that you witness the true strength that you really are capable of, even if it never feels it at the time.

I think if you are a fan of Sophie Kinsella you will enjoy this book, if you are also interested in reading a book covering the topic of mental health, then this is a great place to start, as it is a much lighter approach to the topic, and it is an incredibly quick and easy read. I really enjoyed Kinsella’s writing and it has made me more interested in reading other books by her as well. So i would recommend giving this a read.

I have given this book 3.5 out of 5 stars