Imagine if someone from our school hacked into everyone’s phone and uploaded everything on it from texts to Google search entries onto a website for everyone to see. Everyone’s secrets to be outed, classmates dreading the moment their private lives are dissected by the public- this is the page turning plot of the book Antisocial by Jillian Blake.

After seeing the 2017 novel had multiple positive reviews from professional book reviewers, I decided to take a break from tougher novels and let my feelings get lost in an enjoyable young adult novel.

Plot: 5/5

The plot was the best part of the book! It truly makes you think about all of the things we keep hidden on our phones. These devices can easily be hacked and once information is out there, anyone can access it. The fact that it takes place in a high school stirs the plot even more since everyone has their own battles to face in high school, but when everyone is bullied for information stolen from their phones, classmates become a sea of victims. With all their questions of what and why, the biggest is who to blame.

Character Development: 4/5

The protagonist, Anna Soler, has an amazing background. Although she is easy to hate at first, as the book goes on, readers learn to sympathize with her and understand why she acts in certain ways. In the beginning of the book, she is introduced as the girl who cut off all ties with her friends in order to keep a boyfriend. The opening of the book shows a recently dumped Anna scrambling to find someone to sit with at lunch, desperate to make amends with the friends she abandoned three months before the breakup. As the plot thickens, we see Anna grow stronger as a friend and weaker on her own. She battles with social anxiety disorder (SAD,) hence the reason for the title Antisocial. This justifies her actions and adds an interesting perspective to the story. Watching Anna grow and deal with her anxiety on her own is empowering- she gives readers hope that even if you are alone, sometimes yourself is all you need.

Other characters were not constructed as well. The author’s technique with labeling people as “Instas” instead of describing their multiple posts on Instagram grew irritating after the first five pages. The other labels were equally as annoying as high school isn’t about labels. It seemed like instead of building more character development, the author made a sad attempt to relate to teenagers by using old slang. Some of the names like “Instas” were more modern, but nobody actually speaks like that. In this instance, character descriptions would have been much better than a simple label.

Romance: 3/5

When Anna was introduced as the dumpee, I expected that the romantic aspect of Antisocial would be especially cringe-worthy. The fact that Anna dumped her friends and then got dumped by her boyfriend Palmer was humorously ironic. After she gets dumped, she sleeps with one of her best friends, giving him mixed feelings because she is still in love with Palmer. This part was especially irritating because a good friend doesn’t use another friend as a rebound. The one reason why this category got some points is because when Anna had flashbacks to her times with Palmer like how they met and having dinner with his parents, the romantic essence draws readers in and satiates the taste for more sentiment. 

Writing Style: 2/5

I would have enjoyed this book much more if the author had been different. The writing style was not for me. It was almost like a seventh grader had written it for a senior in high school. Jillian Blake attempted to use slang to relate to her readers, but it came across as strange and didn’t mix well. Antisocial is a fairly easy read- I finished it in about two hours, but it would have been more enjoyable if it was longer and the writing style was more mature. It was middle school level writing for a topic that high school students could relate to, and that’s something I could not ignore while reading this book. Everything else with the book was fine, but would it kill the author to use a couple adjectives?

If you are looking for an easy book to read just for the interesting plot, pick up Antisocial. If not, I suggest you move on to bigger and better novels.

Overall: 14/20