VBT# Here's the Thing - Emily O'Beirne

 

 

 

Review: Here's the Thing - Emily O'Beirne - October 2016

There were two things that attracted me to this book , the first of course was the cover of the Subway lines in New York and the second was the author as I had just a couple of weeks ago finished reading her book Points of Departure and quite enjoyed it. In Here's the Thing we meet Zelda aka Zel whose parents have moved back to Australia from New York for their jobs. While in New York, Zel's mother worked for a modelling agency and that is where she met Prim. The two of them one day based on a book they both read, decided that they would begin a project to ride the Subway lines together . This went on till she moved and also the last time they talked before she left to come to Australia. While in Australia , Zel is beginning a new school with a new set of friends courtesy of her cousin Anthony welcoming her into his group. In this group of friends , Zel meets Stel aka Stella. Stella comes from a hectic household where she has an autistic brother Ollie. I could relate to this in a way as I have two siblings and my mother who all fell on the Autism spectrum. Here's the Thing features Zel's life before Australia with Prim and the Subway Project and After New York with her new friends and their Home Project which they are doing for a drama assessment. What I liked about this book besides being set in Australia which was nice for a change and being a GLBT story was that though the book was a GLBT story, that wasn't oversexualised and over-played on. I found this book to be more of a YA friendship story and a tale of discovering who you are and what your family, friends , home means to you.