It started off a little slow-- and honestly, I wasn't the biggest Anna fan in the beginning either. BUT- this book got GOOD about 100 pages in. It was a voyeurs wet dream at times-- and then it was stomach-turning. It turns out, there IS a such thing as knowing too much about people. I think I'll be happy to know what people want me to know about them from now on!!

Antisocial is not a boring book. I mean, every five minutes someone's deepest, darkest secret is being exposed. It was almost something that I wanted to look away from, but couldn't. It's definitely a cautionary tale to teens and young adults, telling them that some personal things are better to be left off of digital devices.

At first, I wasn't sure about Anna. I didn't really like her, and I didn't like the way she presented Social Anxiety Disorder. I don't have SAD, so I can't speak to the authenticity of the portrayal, but for having spent time in an in-patient treatment center and now going through an EXTREMELY stressful situation (without the help of any drugs), she seemed oddly non-anxious.

Once the phone leaks started happening though, this book got GOOD. It was one bombshell secret after another, to the point where I was cringing every time a new one was dropped. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I like reading about the drama-- but at some point I realized there IS a thing as knowing too much about people. At some point I wanted to scream "no more!!".

There aren't very many likable characters in this book. I didn't care for Anna's personality and her friends weren't much better. Radhika (Anna's former bestie) was a character I thought could have been my favorite-- but it turned out she never she never turned that corner for me. She was just another mean girl in a book full of them.

The one character that pissed me off more than any of them was a dude named Timmy Tepper. He capitalized off of the leaks by podcasting every lurid detail, making sure no one missed one juicy secret of his classmates. Every time he made an appearance, my blood pressure went up. Pure disgust.

I do have to say I felt like as terrible as the things that got exposed in this book were-- the characters were extremely lucky that it was happening to everybody. Not saying that it still wouldn't hurt and be humiliating, but the fact that everyone was having their secrets splashed around had to be better than being singled out. I was sort of relieved for them in a weird way.

The ending was-- okay. I felt like the mystery aspect of this book was just MEH. Very anti-climactic. The person who did it isn't a surprise, and there's not a big twist or gotcha moment. Many things are left undone and unanswered. I wanted more.

OVERALL: I liked this book despite not really loving the main character. The best part of this book is the DRAMA and the "don't want to look, but can't look away" secrets that are revealed about EVERYBODY. Seriously, every single person in this book suffers from too much exposure. It was sad, but also OMG so salacious.

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"Basically, a good number of my social interactions, both online and IRL do bad, bad things to my nerves".

Antisocial by Jillian Blake

This was absolutely a great read. It is YA but very well written smart YA. I liked Antisocial very much.

There is a double message here, in that the book's focus is on, not just Bullying, but bullying by way of the internet which, in these times, is an important subject.

Our Heroine's name is Anna and she attends High school. When people' phones start getting broken into, and secrets exposed, she must unravel the mystery of what is going on all the while keeping herself and her friends out of Harm's way.

This was both a fun read and a cautionary tale. It was just the right length and I really got sucked into Anna's world. I liked this book very much.

If you like YA Fiction with a message, you should put this one at the top of your list. ( )

Do you like stories about secrets? Secrets exposed? Did you like One of Us Is Lying? If so, you'll love this one. ( )

Antisocial brings awareness and reminders to watch what you post online as it may bite you in the bum later. Anna has just went through a breakup and struggles with social anxiety. Phones are being hacked and personal information is revealed throughout the school. Interesting YA read for secondary students. ( )

Antisocial is the epitome of what teenagers have to deal with in the age of technology and social media. I was never someone who cared for social media in high school or even now and it's not like I was in high school too long ago. It's now that I'm in my twenties that I see what a big impact social media has cost us. People have committed suicide and destroyed lives because of what has been said on their screen. It's something I've only begun to understand until now. How there are people out there who feel isolated and alone with no one to talk to. And when you make a mistake where there was a picture taken - your life could be over. Antisocial helps you see this and more.

Anna, is a complicated person to like. She's come groveling back to her friends after she abandoned them for her boyfriend who happened to be popular. They shared similarities that no one else acknowledged - an intense social anxiety. I just happened to be watching this long video/documentary yesterday where it had multiple people with different forms of mental illness including Social Anxiety Disorder. Now it's different from really not wanting to go to places or see people. It's feeling extremely scared and worried in social situations with feelings of people judging you while you are judging yourself even more than I feel possible. We know the feeling growing up but it's way more intense. So I saw Anna this way and felt for her. But then she just left her friends. Stopped talking to them for no reason.

See? She's a complicated person to like.

During the story, there is a person or people that start hacking important players and start ruining their lives. I mean, they deserve it but it has a collateral effect on Anna's friend. More and more people's secrets are being exposed. Anna is in fear of what she's written about her friends. Ugly things that she didn't really mean. Her friends are a wide cast of diverse kids (like in real life *shocked face*) including a hacker, a tough girl, a quiet girl, a popular kid, and a sweet guy. Most of them have different backgrounds other than just white which I appreciated. Almost all of them, including Anna, have secrets that they don't want to come out.

I really enjoyed Antisocial for its mystery, diversity, plot, and characters. All of it felt very possible to me. It was a very real story. On the other hand, I also felt there was a lot of generational talk that I didn't particularly care for but when everything came together - I was happy to have read this. There could have been a little more to make this truly amazing since I felt towards the end things began to get weird and sideways. Unexpectedly, I did feel profoundly unhappy reading the last few chapters. Antisocial shows us how mean and cruel we can be. That we are people who carry secrets and lies but we also make mistakes. Despite everything, people aren't just their secrets and mistakes. There is so much more of us than what we or others portray us to be.
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