The Miseducation of Cameron Post by EM Danforth, review

I read it in one sitting. It's no secret how much I love YA fiction...I LOVE YA FICTION.

I especially love YA fiction that reveals how complex and complicated growing up can be.  Maybe because I'm still growing up and finding my own way too.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post represents everything I love about YA fiction.  It's real.  It's gritty.  I empathize with Cam, even if she's not always likable.  The whole way though, I'm cheering her on...and I wish she was my friend.

The first half of TMCP describes Cameron's life growing up in Miles City, Montana after the death of her parents.   Now, raised by her grandma and uber born again Aunt Ruth, Cameron has to navigate teenhood. Growing up in a semi-rural/suburban area, this part of the book sounded very familiar.  Lots of exploring places we need not explore, closerthanclose friendships, and in this case, sexual experimentation and pot smoking.  What I like about this half is that Cameron seems so...real, so much like kids I went to school with.  Nothing in the book seems forced, including Cameron's sexuality- it's all very fluid and complex.

The second half of the story focuses follows Cameron through a "pray the gay away" camp.  I found this part of the story to be...well, horrifying and uncomfortable.  Not because of the writing, of course, but because it scarily accurately reflected some beliefs....

This book is wonderful.  The characters are complicated and well-written, accurately revealing how complex teen life can be.  Danforth's beautiful writing style places me right there, on the Montana plains.  I feel Cameron's struggle, her confusion, her defiance and her emptiness and betrayal. The Miseducation of Cameron Post, at 400+ pages, is a well-worth it summer read.

I really wish I knew Cameron Post in real life.