Nina is Not OK by Shappi Khorsandi. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the publisher via Netgalley included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.
‘Do you think your drinking is a problem? Do you get drunk when you don’t mean to?’ I always mean to.
You can’t be an alcoholic at 17, can you? Nina enjoys a drink; she’s hardly alone in that and her friends are always on hand to fill in any blanks she has from the night before. Nina’s mother is simply being oversensitive because Nina’s father was an alcoholic, right?
When no-one can help her remember the events of a particular night, Nina is forced to confront her drinking in a way she never has before. She is also left with a feeling that something bad happened. A feeling of shame that will not go away. A feeling that leads her to blame herself for the actions of others. A feeling that has far reaching consequences.
It’s been a couple of weeks since I finished Nina is Not OK and it is still playing on my mind. That’s because Shappi Khorsandi has written characters that I ended up caring deeply for, even if I didn’t always like them.
For so long there has been an assumption that characters, particularly women and girls, must be likeable (a) for readers to actually enjoy reading about them and (b) in order for readers to empathise with them. This isn’t always true. Some of my favourite books in recent years have had characters that were either (a) downright unlikeable or (b) said and did unlikeable things at some point.
I’m reminded of a speech Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gave last year where she told young girls to forget about likeability. Solid advice for life and for writing fiction.
Like Asking For It by Louise O’Neill and All The Rage by Courtney Summers, Nina is Not OK is an exploration of consent and the role alcohol plays, rape culture, victim blaming and the politics of teenage girls. Not always an easy read, subject wise, but that is exactly what makes them essential reading.
Shappi Khorsandi has written a powerful and complex debut novel (her first book is a memoir) that is as funny as it is thought-provoking. More of this, please.
Nina is Not OK is published by Ebury Press part of the Penguin Random House Group and is available in hardback and ebook format.
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