Someone's Story - B.A. Bellec

Author: B.A. Bellec

Genre: YA Contemporary, Coming of Age.

Rating: 2.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: I can see why the book has such a high rating, but either it wasn’t my kind of read or I picked it up at the wrong time. Left me with plenty of mixed feelings.

Story Synopsis:

Narrated from the first person perspective of a teen who calls himself ‘Someone’ through the book, this is literally “Someone’s Story.” With his mom not being part of his life since he was just a child, 12th grader Someone has only his single dad to connect with. When Dad moves to a new city, Someone, who is supposedly a loner with anxiety issues, finds himself struggling to fit in and find a space for himself. But with some help from a new counsellor and some school and work friends, Someone begins to adjust, though the journey isn’t the one you would imagine.

Where the book worked for me:

👌 Despite the 300+ page length, the book goes by fairly quickly. The writing doesn’t force in embellishments, keeping things simple.

👌 I didn’t expect surprises to come my way in such a story. But they did. These twists were unexpected, thereby elevating my final experience somewhat.

Where the book left me with mixed feelings:

⚠ The story starts off as a regular ‘lost teen trying to fit in’ kind of narrative. But as it progresses, you see it getting darker. Most readers seem to have enjoyed this dark turn and hated the slow start. For me, it was exactly the opposite. I loved the slow-paced insight into Someone’s character but then found the developments too random. The ending brought me back on track but the repetitive middle section took away a lot of my enjoyment.

⚠ The writing style took some time to adjust to. The content is written in the usual descriptive text, but with all the spoken dialogues coming in a play-script kind of writing style. If you can’t put your head around the duality of this structure, this isn’t the book for you because this pattern exists throughout the book. I didn’t mind this style and just went with the flow.

⚠ I don’t know how to describe the plot development. It wasn’t exactly meandering, but it wasn’t straightforward as well. Sometimes, it felt like a lot of slice-of-life narratives were thrown in together. There is a connecting thread but it is not strong enough.

⚠ The teen narrator calling himself ‘Someone’ seemed quirky at first but as the story progressed, I expected him to come into his identity. But he stays ‘Someone’ throughout, even when the situation demands his identity.

⚠ Even beyond that vague first name, I couldn’t understand Someone’s character. He starts off as a loner in a new town, worrying about the fresh phase in his life. But his social skills don’t depict him as awkward at all. He connects with his coworkers and new schoolmates instantly and does well in whatever he chooses to with hardly any struggle. The introductory portrayal and the later development didn’t gel with each other.

⚠ There are plenty of themes covered by the author - love, family, work, friendship, motivation, running, mental health, addiction, teen pregnancy,… There are also plenty of pop culture references to popular (and not-so-popular) movies and music. All this works both for and against the book. You get a lot of varied content, but it goes over the top and interrupts the continuum of the main plot point.

⚠ For a first person YA narration, there is surprisingly minimal rambling or internal monologues. But this writing decision also means that we see only what the narrator wants us to see. Most of the rest of the characters don’t get explored beyond a surface level until Someone decides to tell us more.

⚠ Mental health is a key theme in this book, but I have a strong feeling the author didn’t get the portrayal of the disorder right. Unfortunately, without any concrete evidence or inside knowledge of the matter, my feeling has to be left at that level.

⚠ Through the character of Kevin the counsellor, we get plenty of inspirational thoughts. Those who love the self-help genre or general motivational messages are going to adore his thoughts. Unfortunately, I am not among those who like preachy stuff. In a strange anticlimactic coincidence, Kevin was still my favourite character in the book.

All in all, you feel like you know where the story is going, but there’s a great chance that you will be wrong. There was nothing I hated about the book, but then again, there was nothing that blew me away. It is a quirky kind of tale and will certainly have a niche audience who will love it for its uniqueness and emotional appeal. I just wasn’t part of the right audience for this content. At the same time, I appreciate this indie author’s efforts to bring to fruition such an unusual story and even inspire an EP that goes with it. If you do pick up the book, don’t miss out reading the author’s note at the end.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author through @LucyTurnsPages on Twitter, and these are my honest thoughts about it.