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by Gretchen Schreiber
The Breakfast Club meets Five Feet Apart in this big-hearted novel from debut author Gretchen Schreiber.
Ellie Haycock has always separated her life into sections: Ellie at home and Ellie at the hospital. At home, Ellie is a proud member of her high school's speech and debate team alongside her best friend and her boyfriend. At the hospital, Ellie has a team of doctors and a mom who won't stop posting about the details of her illness online. It's not hard for Ellie to choose which of the two she prefers.
But this latest hospital stay is different. Ellie becomes close with a group of friends, including Ryan, a first-timer who's still optimistic about the doctors that Ellie stopped trusting years ago. Despite their differences, she can't seem to keep him out of her head. Ellie's life has never been ordinary—but maybe this time it will be extraordinary.
"Schreiber employs witty banter and acerbic first-person narration to unravel complexities of disability identity as Ellie learns to self-advocate, redefines what 'normal' means to her, and reckons with how chronic illness can affect relationships with others and oneself." ―Publishers Weekly
"Honest and illuminating." ―Kirkus Review
"Told with sparkling wit and endless charm. I fell in love with Ellie Haycock! I think you will too. Either way.. she is totally fine." ―Reese Witherspoon
"Gretchen Schreiber's writing is honest, raw, and funny. She seamlessly weaves a story of hurt and humor with beautiful prose and characters that already feel like old friends. With friendship, family, cute boys, and how to stop seeing yourself through the lens of other people's definitions, Ellie is the coming-of-age story everyone should read." ―Kristin Dwyer, author of Some Mistakes Were Made
"Soul-deep and sharply poetic, Schreiber's debut deftly rewrites conventions with poignant detail. With resonant romance and an iconic central character, Ellie Haycock is Totally Normal is extraordinary." ―Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka, authors of Always Never Yours
This information about Ellie Haycock Is Totally Normal was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Gretchen Schreiber grew up between the hills of Kansas and the hospitals of Minnesota, but now calls the hills of Los Angeles home. After getting her MFA from USC Film School, she works as a professional bookworm for Hello Sunshine, Reese Witherspoon's media company. She is always down to run away to Disneyland or a bookstore.
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