Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

“Sometimes I think people take reality for granted.”

Alex is trying to get through her last year of high school and move on to college. Her senior year also means a new school, which brings along many challenges. However the biggest challenge for Alex is her battle with schizophrenia, and the daily struggle of figuring out what is real and what is a delusion. This includes Miles, a boy at school she may have met years earlier but over time began to believe that he was imagined. As Alex tackles the school year and everything that comes along with it, she can’t help but question what is real and what isn’t.

“People say teenagers think they’re immortal, and I agree with that. But I think there’s a difference between thinking you’re immortal and knowing you can survive. Thinking you’re immortal leads to arrogance, thinking you deserve the best. Surviving means having the worst thrown at you and being able to continue on despite that. It means striving for what you want most, even when it seems our of your reach, even when everything is working against you.”

I absolutely adored Francesca Zappia’s novel, Eliza and Her Monsters and was excited to read her debut, Made You Up. Unfortunately this one just did not click with me the same way. I do very much enjoy the author’s writing style, and the book is certainly a nice, breezy read. However, I found it difficult to connect to the characters and as a result did not feel that invested in what was happening. This was especially true when it came to some odd storyline choices that took me out of the story, and although I understand the line between reality and delusion that the author was bringing into question, it just didn’t feel cohesive to the overall book. It didn’t click with me this time around, but it has with a lot of people and hopefully it is a book that will click with you as well. 🙂