Book Review #33 – Paper Aeroplanes, by Dawn O’Porter

Hey guys!

Today’s review is my most unexpected surprise of the year so far! It’s Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O’Porter.

Find every edition of this book over at Book Depository

Disclaimer: this book is also called Paper Airplanes.

I’ve heard a lot of both this author and book because one of my favourite publishers, Hot Key Books, was the responsible for the publishing of this book in the UK and Europe. I only picked up this title since the second volume was available on NetGalley. I don’t know what I was expecting but this wasn’t it. I was in for a surprise.

Paper Airplanes tells the story of two girls, Renée and Flo, who are teenagers during the 90’s and live in a small island called Guernsey, on France. After a terrible tragedy involving Flo, the two of them become friends.

Dawn O’Porter is a british writer and she’s known for her honestly, humour and portrait of true womanly situations.

I can’t even begin to explain how new and refreshing this book is. It’s about friendship. I mean, friendship. How many YA books are about that?! I tell you, I’ve never read a book of this genre just focus on friends. Don’t get me wrong, there is romance in this book. The important thing is that it is secondary and the only thing that matters is Renée and Flo.

I absolutely loved how brutally real this book was. It had situations like I’ve never even dreamed of reading in a book like periods, how it feels to give someone a blowjob or how weird sex is. Even though these are normal happenings in a girl’s life, they are mostly ignored in all medias like literature, cinema and television. It felt amazing to finally read something that real and honest.

I really appreciated how O’Porter had the sensibility of portraying each mood in its most appropriate way. Whether it was sexy times or morning periods, a certain care in talking about the issues was there. But like always, the humour was touching and it changed, for the better, the whole experience. I really appreciate all her honestly and brutally in speaking about stuff that’s normally sugarcoated.

The characters are gorgeous. They are all special and different in their own ways. All age groups are very well defined and act accordingly. The only character I really didn’t like was Julian, Flo’s brother. But let’s be real, who would like that douche?!

The only down point I have for this book is that I didn’t like was that it didn’t feel like the setting was perfectly clear. I never felt that I was in a island between France and the UK. And besides a few references, I also didn’t feel like I was in the 90’s. Maybe the characters stole the whole show for me and I couldn’t care for anything else. If it wasn’t for this little down point, this would be a perfect book. Anyway, it’s really close to that.

I’m disappointed that this book hasn’t gotten much attention. None of my friends on Goodreads had read it and it broke my heart. I will recommend this to every single one and when someone finally reads it, I’ll have someone who can appreciate it with me. I’m also hoping any of you who are reading this know this book and maybe we can talk? I would love that!

My favourite quote was this one:

When people feel sad, what they need is attention. Not the kind of attention where they have to be told how amazing they all the time. Just kind of attention where they know that should they need you, you are there.

I hope you enjoyed this review! I cannot wait to read Goose. I hope to see you again next time!

Cat.