Unboxed – Non Pratt

This book is lovely! It’s really small and shiny and printed on relaxing yellow paper; I read it in about an hour and it brought back lots of memories.

The premise of the story is that four friends are meeting up to remember their fifth friend Millie, who has died. They spent an amazing summer together when they were thirteen and put together a time capsule of all their favourite things about each other for them to open in the future. They hid the box on the top of the school roof. Five years have passed and their lives have changed quite a lot since then. Alix is still in the closet and isn’t sure how she is going to tell her friends (although in her world now it’s not a secret), Ben has moved to London and grown ( a lot!) Dean is still secretive and fighting against the world and Zara is there with her annoying boyfriend Ash, who just gets worse as the book goes along.

After a dramatic rescue of the box they gather in the local park with a bottle of vodka for courage. The box is full of memories; music, photos and little ‘in’ jokes that Ash doesn’t understand and certainly doesn’t like. Alix is texting her girlfriend and wonders whether she has made a mistake by coming, but as the night wears on they realise that they have really missed each other and, no matter how their lives have changed, they all still feel the same about each other.

This book is designed for people who don’t enjoy reading or for people that find reading a struggle – particularly dyslexic people. It is short and to the point, chucking you into the story on the first page. It also looks lovely and shiny and as a quick read will appeal to all.

This isn’t like her other two books. Remix is full of sex and drugs and Trouble is about a girl dealing with an unexpected pregnancy so, this is a break from teenage pressures and deals with the more weighty issue of grief. It’s quite unusual for young people to experience the death of a friend so this is an interesting read. It did remind of my misspent youth, sitting in parks with my friends and vowing to change the world. As an adult it is rare to spend time with your friends just having a chat so, take the time to appreciate what you have while you still have it.

A lovely book that will keep you company for a hour or so, maybe with some tea…. and a biscuit…. or two.