Review Detail

The Disturbed Girl’s Dictionary is as disturbing as its name implies.

While, in an effort to not trivialize or pretend as if teenagers don’t go through hard things, I’d timidly suggest this novel for older teens.

Macy is disturbed or is she? Forced into a life of neglect, poverty, and disfunction—it’s hard to decipher “crazy,” behavior from a cry for help.

Macy’s mom is as present as she is absent—and her father is incarcerated. She has a best friend, Alma who’s life is just as complicated—and her other bestie, George—who wears a helmet, and is a gentle giant.

Told in a series of chapters, some short and succinct, some poem-like, The Disturbed Girl’s dictionary is a hard-hitter of a book never dallying in the sweet, but delivering the truth in a harsh, sharp loud tone. Some of it is down-right cringeworthy and eye-shutting.

For a debut novel, the author had no qualms about telling this story with all of its real quirky craziness.

The Disturbed Girl’s Dictionary though better suited for older teens is a story worth reading if not to enjoy but to peel back the layers of the reality of stories like these that get covered or ignored.

A worthwhile gritty read not for the faint of heart.