Dear Friend,

Faking Normal reminded me of you and your story, but it also showed me that pain is felt by everyone and that no matter the magnitude of harm you have endured, we all have to overcome it. Not only did this allow me to see your perspective but reading this book I was also able to develop my own point of view from the outside looking in. I realized that people put up good covers for the public eye but internally they are suffering. I can relate to this of course but really, the point of the book was to notify the public that everyone “has a story”. Throughout this book I learned how to empathize in one chapter and sympathize in the next, which was an amazing experience that I wish for you to have too. Courtney C. Stevens, the author of this book, used language that so accurately described the feeling of loneliness and helplessness the main character, Alexi felt. From each chapter I was left in tears but also with relief, that someone could finally relate to me and I was reminded that we are never alone, nor do we all get the courage to speak out about our struggles.

Like Alexi, we both share her coping mechanism of writing rather than speaking out. A sentence in the summary of this book included, “…words on a desk feel safer than words spoken aloud.” For the deration of this novel Alexi created an unknown, mysterious, fairytale man who wrote partial lyrics on her desk and always expected her to finish the song. This quote struck me deep with how true that statement is…often we are too afraid to say the things we want to say aloud yet we need a way to express our feelings and emotions so people turn to literature, music, painting, artistic ways of expressing what cannot be said vocally.

I would recommend that you read this book because I know that you have the same appreciation for persevering through pain as I do. I found this book so brutally honest, pain could not have been explained or represented any better. I hope you find it as comforting as I did while you devour this book.

Much love,

Cayleigh