"Someone Like You" by Sarah Dessen

There are books you pick up without thinking about what they may tell. Books that don’t say much in the blurb are desperate for you to know the in-depth story they wish to convey. Books that end up being relatable and specific to what you’re living through at that moment.

“Someone like you” by Sarah Dessen is one of those books.

Sarah Dessen is an American Novelist. She’s famous for writing realistic fiction in the young adult literature genre. She made her novel writing debut three years after her graduation in 1996. “The Summer” was a novel about a youth dealing with rapid changes in family and friends' relationship dynamics. From this, we can see that Sarah Dessen’s main common category is coming-of-age. She has around 30 books published, and they all target teenage audiences who enjoy romance and novellas they may relate to. Two of her books have been made into movie adaptations. The two books are “Along for the Ride” and “How to Deal.” Overall, Sarah Dessen is an accomplished author, and her books have done well.

“Someone like you” is a coming-of-age story about a girl named Halley and her best friend, Scarlett. This book revolves around friendship but holds topics much deeper than that, like family issues, self-discovery, peer pressure, and toxicity surrounding teenage love.

The book first starts with Halley speaking of how she met Scarlett and how Scarlett has been a massive part of her life ever since. This plays out when Scarlett finds out she’s pregnant at 16 with her recently deceased boyfriend’s baby. Over the course of the book, we see how Halley supports Scarlett throughout every part of the pregnancy and is constantly there for her. Aside from this, Halley is facing her own issues with her mom, herself, and the mysterious boy, Macon Faulkner. Throughout the book, we see Halley being influenced by Macon and slowly losing herself and her morals. This triggers a stump in her relationship with her mom because they start to argue more, and they become more distant because Halley goes against her mother’s rules. The coming-of-age factor of this book is at the end when Halley realizes that she doesn’t like who she’s become. She decides to self-reflect and makes changes that feel good for her.

Sarah Dessen uses point of view and perspective. The book is told in the first person, which is Halley’s point of view. I enjoyed this way of writing because I got to see inside Halley’s head and read her thoughts. I felt like I was in Halley's position, which made me think about what I would do if I were her. This way of writing also adds so much more to the main character because we, as readers, get to see the way she sees the world and her experiences firsthand. Part of this writing style contributes to the way that Sarah Dessen uses pathos and logos. The most commonly used is pathos. Since this book tells the story of a teenager growing up and realizing things about herself, it tends to have emotional factors. For example, there is a moment when Scarlett feels like she’s all alone and no one will support her during her pregnancy. At this moment, we see Halley reassuring her best friend and telling her that she is not alone because Halley will be there for her every step of the way. The author uses Logos to make the audience think. An example of this is Halley’s relationship with her mom. There are circumstances in which Halley is in the wrong and her mom in the right, and vice versa. But we, as readers, have to determine who we agree with and why.

I enjoyed reading this book because the characters were my age, and it was interesting to see teenagers' different situations in life. This book did an excellent job of portraying the never-ending confusion that goes through a teenager's head when making decisions and going through the world trying to figure out who they are. We also see a teenager's stubbornness when listening to a parent. This was an accurate factor because, as teenagers, we believe that adults are always wrong, and we don’t like hearing the truth of what they may say. Another part of this book I liked was the ending and the character development. Halley slowly discovers that she doesn’t feel comfortable with who she has become, so she decides to take the reign and make suitable changes.

“I deserved to grow, and to change, to become all the girls I could ever be over the course of my life, each one better than the last.”

I recommend this book because it portrays the beauty of friendship and it deals with serious topics we usually don’t think teenagers live through. This book has likable characters, and it’s an easy book to get lost in. I loved getting to know all the characters and their situations. Therefore, don’t let the blurb fool you. It may not say much, but once you read the book, it’ll all be worth it.

By, Andrea Carias