For every-day girls with every-day issues

My Big Nose & Other Natural Disasters by Sydney-Louise Salter Husseman

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

I approached this book a little differently as I read it aloud with my roommate, and I can't imagine having read it any other way. It was so much fun to read this book with a friend and be able to share our own stories of poor self-image, lousy boy experiences and horrific summer jobs. We could totally relate to this book, and not because we had experienced some trauma that had a profound effect on our lives, but because we are every-day girls who deal with every-day life.

Jory Michaels has a problem, and it's as plain as the nose on her face, mostly because it is the nose on her face. Her two best friends have emerged from their ugly-duckling phases and are now beautiful, confident young women ready to take senior year by storm. Her little brother Finn is a soccer star two years her junior who managed to score a date to senior prom when he was still a freshman. Her mom is perfectly proportioned, her dad is a workaholic and everyone around her knows where they are going in life. If only Jory's massive shnoz and perpetual virginity would stop getting in her way.

Her summer plan includes finding summer employment to pay for a nose job, discovering a passion and having sex. But it won't be that easy when she is a horrible driver and the only job she can find is delivering cakes. Not to mention that when water skiing, yoga, soccer, reading and classical music fail to perk Jory's interest, she begins to run out of things to become passionate about. Then her best friend starts hanging out with the guy she has been crushing on for twelve months, six days and however many hours, and the only boy who seems to be taking any notice of Jory is a juvenile delinquent with a super-snout of his own.

Sure there are times when I wished Jory would shut up about her nose and get more supportive friends, and don't even get me started on her superficial mother. But isn't that how life is? We get fixated on something so securely that we can't see past it and we let it rule our lives--that is part of human nature.

At a time when YA fiction has been flooded with books about beautiful, aloof, perfect girls, Sydney Salter has written a heartwarming books about an ordinary girl with ordinary problems yet managed to make an extraordinary novel. Full for laugh-out-loud funny moments, hide-under-the-covers embarrassing moments and call-your-mom-to-tell-her-you-love-her moments, My Big Nose stands out from the crowd.

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