BOOK REVIEW: Diary of a Confused Feminist by Kate Weston

Kat wants to do GOOD FEMINISM, although she's not always sure what that means. She also wants to be a writer, get together with Hot Josh (is this a feminist ambition?), win at her coursework and not make a TOTAL EMBARRASSMENT of herself at all times. But the path to true feminism is filled with mortifying incidents and when everything at school starts to get a bit too much, Kat knows she's lost her way, and the only way forward is to ask for help . . .

Join Kat AKA the Confused Feminist as she navigates EVERYTHING from menstrual cups and mental health to Instagram likes and #TimesUp in her HILARIOUS, OUTRAGEOUS and VERY EMBARRASSING diary.

Firstly I would like to thank Hodder Children's Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to give a true and honest review on this YA title.

This book was not aimed at my age group however, I had hopes that the feminist message implied by it's title and blurb would offer an interesting insight for teenage girls who want to know more about feminist views and enable them to embrace those items that fitted to the direction they wanted their life to go.

Despite it briefly touching on menstrual cups and mental health (which is clearly not just a feminist issue), this read more like a teenage Bridget Jones's Diary of teenage angst. Although Kat was a likeable character I did feel she was no different to any teenage girl being brought up with a middle class family with a strong support group of friends.

The main thread of the mental health story line was well detailed but more from the standpoint of the affects of bullying than anything else. Despite the impact on her mental health however and the anxiety being caused by Kat's nemesis and her cringeworthy interaction with Tim (the masogonist) and Hot Josh. I do feel the story would have been more rounded if more of a punishment had been experienced rather than just an equal reaction of humiliation. The message of bullying not being acceptable clearly got lost in the melodrama.

I did enjoy the solidarity showed by her two friends and to be honest would have been happy to have focused on them as a unit or at least seen more of the perspective of situations from all three characters rather than just Kat. The gay best friend was a bit cliche however, it was nice to see an attempt at normalising LGBTQ+ characters in all ages of life.

Although I am not the target audience it was however a light and easy read so I have given it 3*.

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