Hilarious, saucy, relatable: one reading generation after Louise Rennison's Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series ended, Diary of a Confused Feminist arrives to fill the YA literary gap.
Fifteen-year-old pink-cheeked, "mousey"-haired Kat, determined to become a "BETTER FEMINIST and a PATRIARCHY-SMASHING JOURNALIST," begins her school year with an agenda that includes activism, switching to a menstrual cup to become "a model eco-friendly feminist," and writing a Feminist Friday column for the school blog. Unfortunately, things in Kat's world rarely go as planned, as her burgeoning feminist side battles with her boy-crazy, looks-fixated adolescent side. In her daily (sometimes minute-by-minute) journal, she sternly admonishes herself to stop having "unfeminist thoughts": "I mean, I know it's not feminist to want to look nice for a boy (right?), but is it okay if I want to look nice for me so that I feel confident in front of the boy? Can I be a sexy feminist?" Although Kat's nonstop gaffes and missteps are wildly entertaining for her friends, family, and readers (especially fans of Derry Girls), a darker aspect lurks beneath. As her low-level anxiety ramps up, she begins alienating her friends--smashing the patriarchy may have to be put on hold.
The journal-style writing in Diary of a Confused Feminist is fast-paced and appealing. Author Kate Weston (Murder on a School Night) incorporates social-media messaging, Google searches, lists, reminders, and recurring self-improvement statements, all adding up to a chaotic, heart-wrenching, believable teen's diary that will likely charm and reassure readers. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor