Literary Life | Brooklyn Girls: Angie

The concept of not judging a book by its cover was absolutely tantamount for this book. I picked it up because it was about a 22 year old girl living in New York, facing all kinds of problems and trying to decide what to do with her life. I felt it might resonate since I'm in a similar situation (except for the fact that I'm not living in New York, sob sob sob). 

In my head, I thought it was going to be a little clichéd and completely over the top, all of which I surmised from the front cover. In short: I was wrong. I raced through Angie's life (which was pretty over the top and outrageous) because it was written so damn well. It felt like I was reading about someone I knew, someone I went to uni went or something. It was authentic and real and whilst I can say I have definitely not been mistaken for a hooker, jumped into the sea to escape a drug-fuelled party or ran away from a guy I loved during a tornado, there was still a lot I could relate to. Angie wants to work in fashion but cannot get a job anywhere, no matter how hard she tries. She's essentially playing adult, which is definitely how I feel a lot of the time. I'm independent, I work hard and I have a strong set of values but feeling well and truly, properly adult? Yeah, that still feels a stretch too far. 

Living with four other girls means there's an abundance of drama that only groups of girls are able to create. There's also a whole host of romantic inclinations and Angie makes some questionable decisions along the way. She also makes some great friends too, which gives me hope that nice people still exist. Somewhere. There's also a lot that occurs which forces Angie to finally bond with her housemates - Pia, Julia, Coco and Madeline - all of whom are wonderfully written and have their own drama to contend with outside of Angie's spiralling. Angie also has to contend with some unresolved feelings concerning her parents and it takes almost the entire novel for the fallout to be rectified.

That's the time with this book, time seems real. There's no quick fix for the big problems but then when it comes to feelings and emotions, Angie can't keep track of quite how she feels. Does she love or loathe those she interacts with? Sometimes it's a quick fluctuation between them both. Which is true of real feelings, really. It's easy to fall in and out of love with people as you get to know them, especially when you're still learning what it is they're hiding. I thought Gemma Burgess had a great grasp on the way twentysomethings address life these days; the novel was current, entertaining and completely gripping. It definitely made me challenge my romantic notions about life in New York too, but I'd still be happy to become a Brooklyn Girl (just not one as wild as Angie!)

Jade x