Most YA fiction that I've come across has focused on romance, which I LOVE, but sometimes friendships get completely overlooked in the face of a cute teen love story. Yet friendships make up a massive part of being a teen, or young adult, and even outweigh the romance. I think it's *so* important for books to recognise this, and remind us all that friends are important, and they can revolutionise some really important years for us all.
Beautiful Broken Things is a book primarily about friendship. Caddy and Rosie have been friends for years, but live on opposite sides of the track: Caddy goes to an expensive private school, and longs for a significant life event to happen to her, whilst Rosie's already experienced trauma in her life. The girls are inseparable, until Suzanne comes along. Troubled and mysterious, she joins Rosie's school and unwittingly creates a wedge between the two best friends.
I think we've all been in that position of anxiety, when our best friend threatens (albeit passively) to become best friends with someone else. Caddy feels undermined, and at first she's determined to push Suzanne out, but eventually she becomes even better friends than Suzanne is with Rosie.
Suzanne is beautiful, but has some serious mental health issues, and a tragic past that keeps catching up with her. The exploration of her mental health problems was incredible - it was an accurate portrayal of a teenage girl struggling to make her way in the world. She made a whole host of mistakes, she was conflicted, and I just really think the author nailed what it's like to not be sure of yourself when the world is telling you that it's time you should know.
I honestly believe the media has such a detrimental effect on the way girls treat each other: we're always portrayed as enemies, as not to be trusted, and as creatures that spend their whole lives trying to hunt down a man. It's just not the case. Beautiful Broken Things is an important book because it completely avoids romance, and focuses on the issue of female friendship, finally showcasing that this often is what a teen girl's life is all about.
I'll be giving this 5 stars, and I really would recommend it to fans of YA fiction.
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