Review Detail

OLIVIA GRAY WILL NOT FADE AWAY is a middle grade book that follows the titular character as she starts 7th grade. Her life has been much the same since 6th grade, except that her brother came out as a gay and her favorite art streamer has returned to streaming. But when she arrives at school, it seems like everyone else has changed. Her friends are constantly talking about boys and crushes, there’s a new app ruling the school, and the librarian Olivia loved has retired and been replaced. It’s all a lot for Olivia, made even worse when she accidentally rejects the most popular boy’s invite to a dance and she becomes the center of gossip on the new app. Soon she’s going invisible, unseen by everyone except the new librarian and a kid named Jules.

Olivia Gray is a fantastic character to follow because she isn’t perfect. She makes mistakes, snaps at people, chooses things that she probably shouldn’t. Not because she’s a bad or selfish character, but because she’s 13. She’s confused and scared and lonely. Ciera Burch gives Olivia Gray the honor of feeling real. It’s fascinating how much you can love and enjoy a character, even when they make decisions that you know aren’t going to end well.

The supporting characters in this book are fun, but they don’t always feel fully fleshed out and real. There are hints to them, but not enough for them to feel like real people in the same way that Olivia does. However, I still enjoyed the variety of supporting characters we are given in this book. Jules is a personal favorite of mine, but I found myself interested in all the supporting characters at one point or another. I wish there had been more details given about these characters, because I feel like it might have added a bit more to the story and the resolution especially.

This book focuses a lot on how Olivia Gray feels, especially when she’s around her friends who seem to all feel something that she doesn’t. Ciera Burch cuts straight to the bone with some of the conversations and thoughts that Olivia has. Her thoughts and emotions aren’t treated by the author as unfair or unreal. Olivia is given time and space to feel the way she does, even if her feelings don’t make sense to the people around her. She’s allowed to be angry and sad and confused and all the shades of gray in between. Ciera Burch gives her the sort of emotions and realism that tugs that part of everyone who has ever felt different or invisible. I can only imagine what reading this book as a middle school student would feel like.

The way the author and book use Olivia going invisible is both intriguing and heart wrenching. Olivia feels tingly when her friends describe romance, eventually seeming to disappear entirely. It plays into Olivia’s fears, but it also echoes a feeling that a lot of “different” kids felt. When you don’t see people like you, when you’re told that you’re different or wrong for being who you are, it leaves you feeling invisible. This book just took that feeling and made it literal.

The pacing in this book seems to suit the style of the novel. It might move a bit fast at times, but it fits with Olivia and the general hurricane that school can feel like at times. From a reader’s perspective: it works. Most of the plot points are given time to build up and develop. The resolution felt a bit quick, tied up too quickly and neatly considering what it was about, but middle school can be like that at times. It didn’t quite feel satisfying to me, a couple of chapters between the last two chapters could’ve added that missing piece of the puzzle, but I didn’t hate the ending either.

A middle grade book following Olivia Gray as she enters the 7th grade to a seemingly different world, OLIVIA GRAY WILL NOT FADE AWAY carefully tackles tough conversations like growing apart, feeling different, and being comfortable in your own skin.