Beth's Reviews > Becoming Bindy Mackenzie

4.5 stars

As Bindy would say, I devoured this book. It's long, but I actually ripped through it. And I loved it. I want to give this book to the people who treat YA as some kind of bastard genre -- I've been wrestling with On The Road for weeks. I zipped through this in one night.

Jaclyn Moriarty - you are one clever bitch (that's supposed to be a term of endearment). Bindy Mackenzie compelled me all the way. Until the last 70ish pages, it remains a fairly typical (but still very good!) high-school read about finding yourself and maybe toning down your more obnoxious features. What I loved about this book was that it didn't perpetuate the negative you-must-change-everything-about-yourself-to-get-what-you-want message, but it was realistic about Bindy's flawed, unlikeable but oddly endearing personality: it didn't make her (m)any friends. However, I can't help but compare this to Finding Cassie Crazy, and I preferred the latter in many ways.

But why didn't this earn the full five stars? The writing is funny, excellent, speedy and surprisingly subtle for what initially appears to be quite an unsubtle book. It's a winner in the writing stakes -- but it wasn't an all-out winner for me until the last section. I know that Jaclyn Moriarty doesn't redo this until Dreaming of Amelia, but I miss her multiple narrators, especially her boys! My favourite parts were those that dealt with other narrators. It's not that I didn't enjoy Bindy immensely, I did, but this is a case of Moriarty's greatest strength being one of her few weaknesses (did that sound pretentious enough? :D): Bindy is such a full-on narrator, so idiosyncratic and relentless, and that is very enjoyable, but such an extreme personality. Besides, I still have huge crushes on all the boys (except Matthew Dunlop, you nasty scumbug!) from Finding Cassie Crazy. I couldn't quite get there with Finnegan A. Blonde, and I wanted to. I just found myself occasionally tiring of Bindy going around in circles for portions of the plot.

Moriarty does a simply superb job of balancing Bindy's flaws (numerous!) with her..."inner vulnerability" is such a cliche, but there's no better way to describe Bindy. She denies all her weaknesses, pushing them down as far as she can, but no-one can deny that she's lonely. However, while Bindy is extremely endearing to the reader, Moriarty is also a great writer for showing us exactly why her classmates dislike her so much. While I was desperately flipping to the next page, I couldn't help saying to myself "would you want to be friends with Bindy Mackenzie?" The truth is, although we are similar in many ways, at the start of the book, I would not. This sounds like a criticism of Moriarty - it isn't. I have a special respect for authors who can make their first-person narrators very well-balanced. Bindy is.

The supporting cast is, for the most part, great. I loved meeting up with Emily again and getting updates on all the other Ashbury girls. However, contributing towards that half-star off perfect score, I couldn't feel for Astrid. Moriarty did her best, and Moriarty really is *the* best, but she couldn't make me feel for petty, shallow, mean Astrid. While I said above that I totally understood where the supporting characters were coming from with their disdain for Bindy, I felt that what Astrid did at Hill End, while not the worst thing ever, was a horrible thing to do. The effect it had on Bindy had me cringing for her. Although Moriarty tries to redeem Astrid, and it was only right because no-one is 100% cruel and unsympathetic, her idiosyncratic voice (although the "like you knows" did make me laugh) made it difficult for Moriarty to truly communicate Astrid's regret. It also slightly (only slightly) spoiled Emily for me, to think that she could be hanging around such a mean girl. However, the rest of the supporting characters are typically Moriarty endearing. Especially Sergio, and yes, Finnegan. While I couldn't have the same kind of emotional engagement with them that I felt with the Cassie guys, I still loved them.

Honestly, and trust me on this one, it's better if you go into the book knowing pretty much no more than what I've written up there. The less you know about the plotline I am going to discuss, the better it is. And it really is fantastic -- the sheer enjoyment and rollercoaster relish of it is one of my favourite reading feelings. While I'm not going to into specific plot details, I didn't see this change of pace coming, and it's better if you don't, either. This section of the book more than earned the half-star, but because of issues mentioned above, I can't really give this the perfect five. However, for those who have read it, have no intention of reading it or are one of those people who just have to look under spoiler tags (I sympathise):

(view spoiler)[the TWIST that this book takes in its latter half! Wow. The last section of the book was 5-star all the way with me, because it literally had me a) rocking backwards and forwards in fear for Bindy; b) gasping at the brilliance of every plot twist; c) panicking about what was going to happen next; d) going "JACLYN MORIARTY I WANT TO DANCE AROUND IN YOUR BRAIN FOR YOUR INTELLIGENCE/BRILLIANCE/WRITING TALENT." When Bindy was writing the letter to Finnegan, I was screaming for her. When the other FAD members took over, I was cheering for them. It was just...despite the audacity, despite the plot twists, despite the larger and life characters...it was so real to me. The supporting cast really came into their own (save for Astrid), and I LOVED it when Sergio *climbed the school* to try and save Bindy. It was amazing, unpredictable and a true rollercoaster ride. (hide spoiler)]

I want to be like Jaclyn Moriarty when I grow up.