Becky Albertalli’s 2017 novel The Upside of Unrequited tells the story of seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso as she attempts to navigate the challenges of life as a teenage girl. Like most girls her age, Molly is dealing with a great deal of change, including shifting familial relationships, a new job, and the prospect of finding her first love. To top it all off, gay marriage has just been legalized and Molly’s moms are engaged, leaving her to feel like the last remaining single person on the planet. Molly realizes that change can be stressful, but is confident that she will find a way to cope, just as the teenagers before her have. Molly has had crushes on twenty-six boys but has yet to land a boyfriend of her own. She is a self-proclaimed expert in unrequited love. She wonders what her first love might look like, fantasizing about finding a boy who will return her feelings one day. She looks up to her twin sister, Cassie, who is much more forthright in her own romantic life and has no issue going after what she wants, usually getting it. When Cassie spots Mina, everything changes; she is instantly enamored. She gets Mina’s phone number, and soon enough, Molly can tell that her sister is totally head over heels. As Cassie pursues Mina, she encourages her sister to woman up and assert herself to land the boyfriend she has always wanted. Cassie and Mina decide that Mina’s best friend, Will, would be a great suitor for Molly. Cassie likes the idea that they can all hang out together without her having to sacrifice time with her new girlfriend. Molly suffers from anxiety about her weight, having experienced bullying when she was younger. This causes her to be in a constant state of worry over what other people think of her. She takes medication to soothe her nerves and prevent panic attacks. This also causes her to be more withdrawn than Cassie and more careful in her actions to avert making a potentially embarrassing mistake. Molly lands a summer job as a store clerk at a local arts and crafts boutique, which is perfect for her as she is very creative. There she meets Reid, the son of the shop owners. At first, Molly is sure that she has nothing in common with him. He is described as geeky and is a bit of a social outcast. After working together and getting to know him better, Molly realizes they may have more in common than she originally thought and that she might be interested in him. However, her sister and Mina are still adamantly pushing her to consider Will. Molly describes Will as a hipster boy; she certainly doesn’t mind his flirting and joking around with her. Drawn to Will for his sense of humor, Molly thinks that he could be her first kiss, as well as the key to getting close to her sister again. Molly feels torn between her feelings for Will and her feelings for Reid. On the one hand, she feels that Will would be the more popular choice, but she just can’t seem to get dorky Reid out of her head. Cassie and Mina tease her about his affinity for all that is uncool, adding to her feelings of uncertainty. She wants a boyfriend, but she also wants to be with someone who will make her more socially accepted, not less. The novel allows the reader to get a sense of what life is like for Molly, a teenage girl trying to make her way in the world, and the adjustment of transitioning from a child into becoming an adult. Molly is faced with tough decisions and plagued by her own self-consciousness and low self-esteem, making it harder for her to see clearly. With all of the social pressures that exist for young adults, Molly struggles to make the right decision, one that she knows could have serious implications on her social status. Molly must decide what is more important to her — her own happiness, or the way she is perceived by others. Molly attends her mothers’ wedding with Reid by her side, as her first official boyfriend. She understands that it is okay to wait for what is important and that the waiting can actually make it that much better when it finally happens. Molly realizes that her own happiness is more important than what others think of her and that she has the power to decide for herself what direction her life will take.

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The Upside of Unrequited

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