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Awkward by Gurpreet Kaur is a short, self-published book by a which follows the life of Awkward, a seventeen-year-old girl, who experiences romance, friendships, educational struggles and other ‘coming-of-age’ experiences. As the name suggests, Awkward is a very awkward character and often finds herself in situations where she feels incredibly uncomfortable and unsure of what to do.
This book is very different to anything I’ve read in probably the last ten years. Her quirky style of writing paired with her Microsoft Paint™ drawn images makes the book rather unique. It has a childish feel to it, which inherently isn’t a negative thing, but when contrasted to the discussions of young romance, feelings of insecurity, worry about the future and not being related to by others, it feels out of place. This book would be recommended to those of around 12 to 14-years old, hopefully finding solace in Awkward as they attempt to navigate their teenage years alongside her. There is no one continuous story line, it is more just isolated chapters of examples of Awkward experiences she has had during her time at school.
I decided to read it because Kaur messaged me herself and I’m already looking for new books to read, unfortunately, because this book was aimed at a younger audience I found it fairly childishly portrayed and immature. From the expression to even small details like character names, I found it too like a children’s book, which was especially odd considering it covers teenage topics like romance and relationships. It resulted in me not finding myself in the book as I was constantly aware of my age in comparison to the age of the audiences who should read this book.
Additionally, the drawings throughout, done clearly on Paint, added to this confusing story the author was trying to project. I found it difficult to pinpoint exactly how I was feeling and what I was supposed to be feel when presented with the light-hearted nature of the drawings and style paired with mature conversations of young romance. Ultimately, it felt less sophisticated, reducing any professionalism to the book. While judging a book by its cover, or drawings in this case, it obviously not indicative of the novel you’re going to read, it definitely creates pre-existing ideas about it and the author who wrote it. If perhaps the drawings were more defined, and the book had been created slightly more professionally then I may have thought differently of the overall novel. In this situation I felt the execution and presentation weakened the book immensely.
Other than that, I will admit that despite the book being aimed at a younger audience, 20-year-old me was quite eager to feel nostalgic about her awkward high school experiences, which I can now look back on and laugh about. The book does have a giddy feeling to it that allows you relate to Awkward to some extent. However, as mentioned before, this was perhaps limited because of its execution and my age in relation to the audience.
Despite this, if you’re looking for a quick, light read I would recommend this book. While it may not be insightful or thought-provoking, it was a nice distraction for a couple of hours. I am so glad the author reached out to me and I am definitely enthusiastic to read her other book Warriors: We All Are Warriors Fighting Our Own Battles and i'm done which can be purchased from those links. The author’s Instagram is @gurpreetpoetry where she interacts heavily with her followers and clearly has that passion every young author needs in this industry.
Rating: ⭐/5