I didn’t think it was possible, but the second Rae Earl book was even better than the first! It has a lot of the same themes (Rae struggling with her troubled mind, her obsession with Haddock, not knowing what is next in her life, the importance of music, etc), but we see her grow so much more in this book. She finishes her A-levels, and while I’m not entirely sure that it matches with high school graduation in North America, there is a definite feeling of Rae having to evaluate different schools to attend in the next year and feeling very unhappy when she’s kind of forced into going to Essex (and eventually dropping out to work for a year, and then applying to go to Hull). The narrative isn’t as neat as many other “figuring out post-high school life” narratives that I’ve read, but for all that it makes Rae more of a real person. Life isn’t as simple as being able to mentally cope with being away from home or not, and Rae demonstrates that perfectly when she realizes quite quickly that she hates Essex, but absolutely loves Hull, and when she has to leave a friend road trip early, but is totally fine going to Poland for a month. The situations on the surface seem like they would be analogous, but in reality it’s all about circumstances, triggers, and having the right feeling about a place or group of people to actually make a difference. It’s almost too bad that Rae stopped publishing her diaries after this one (and apparently burned the originals), since her story is fascinating, but the final moments of this diary drive home her central message: life is fucked up, and we’re all fucked up, but we figure out ways to cope so that we can be happy on a larger scale. ( )

My Madder Fatter Diary is the second collection of diary entries Rae Earl wrote as a teenager. It follows the events after My Fat, Mad Teenage Diary.

Plot:
It's 1990. Rae has to face her A Levels and figure out what she can and wants to do next. But figuring yourself out is a tall order even when you don't struggle with your mother, have mental health issues and no proper help with that, when you aren't fat or in love with the most gorgeous guy on earth. That means that life's a tall order for Rae, but at least she has the big personality to match it.

My Madder Fatter Diary manages to bring Rae's story to a nice conclusion (as much as you can bring a life story that doesn't end in death to a conclusion). It's a hugely enjoyable and emotional read that I absolutely loved.

Read more on my blog: http://kalafudra.com/2017/10/16/my-madder-fatter-diary-rae-earl/ ( )

Also awesome! If it doesn't make you laugh out loud (and cry) then nothing will! ( )