Anatomy of a Misfit is an odd book, combining a smart-mouthed and irreverent narrator, Anika, with a story of child abuse.  This is a young adult novel that might be too much for some teens. The adult themes also include stealing from work and drugging her boss, and the sex lives of Anika’s friends.  There are some curse words early on, but not many in most of the rest of the book. Anika is an entertaining teen with many insights into school life and all the gossip that goes with it.  She is the third most popular girl in school, and she manages that by being friends with the most popular girl, Becky Vilhauer.  But she knows that Becky is manipulative and evil, and she is starting to be uncomfortable about being her friend. At the same time, she is starting to have boys interested in her. There’s a boy, Logan, who is trying to woo her, and she occasionally visits him at his home, but things are tense there, with Logan’s father belittling his family. Then there’s another boy, Jared, who all the girls want, including Becky, but Jared is romancing Anika, and that’s going to make Becky mad at her.  There’s a lot more drama at Anika’s work place and at her home. This keeps the story going well; and most of the book is a standard teen novel of problems with boyfriends.  But the dark underside makes it more serious, and the mix does not quite work. The plot of the severely dysfunctional family ultimately makes it impossible to really enjoy Anika’s disrespectful humor, and that’s the best part of the novel. The unabridged audiobook is peformed well by Caitlin Davies, who brings out the wit of Anika’s attitude.

© 2014 Christian Perring

Christian Perring, Professor of Philosophy, Dowling College, New York