This is one of those books that makes you angry and emotional but which you can’t help but love all at once.
I think every woman can relate to at least part of Lexi‘s experience and that‘s what makes this book truly tragic. She discovers feminism how most of us discovered feminism and it was a really really tough read at times. However, it’s brilliantly written because it truly makes you feel all of these emotions and I can only recommend.

I have extremely mixed feelings about this book. On one hand it is an extremely interesting read that highlights many important and emotional topics. However, I felt quite detached from the story at the same time. I really struggled to connect to the writing, characters, and plot despite finding different aspects within the books interesting and thought-provoking. While carrying many powerful messages, sadly this book is just not for me.

A powerful and interesting read, it’s a book I’d recommend any woman reads. Lexi is a young girl discovering feminism and about her discovering the rage of being a woman. Its an emotional read, I felt every step and every emotion, although I may not have walked her path exactly every woman reading this will identify with Lexi and her journey. A girl not taken seriously by her family, bullied , emotionally abused and frustrated rage. This is a read for all the nasty women out there, the angry women and oh that heartbreaking conclusion, but oh so realistic, you need to read this book..

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Furious Thing is an emotional rollercoaster that takes you through every emotion. It feels so vivid like you too are experiencing them. It's well paced and a really interesting and thought provoking read.

Furious thing makes for quite uncomfortable reading. Lex, our 15 year old main character, has anger issues, and I don’t blame her. Everyone else seems to, though - her step father most of all, but also her mother and step brother, who all want her to "be good". It seems the burden of blame for the whole dysfunctional family is placed on her shoulders, and as a reader, to see how unfairly she’s treated by almost everyone in her life makes you want to scream with frustration at the injustice. This is what happens when not only the victim doesn’t know she’s being abused, but no one else in the family acknowledges it either. (Though really they’re all victims.)

Downham has a gift for exploring subtle and complex family dynamics. I only wish her books had been around when I was fifteen myself.

loved Lexi, the main character, and straight away you empathise with her and the relationship she has with her step-father. He is emotionally abusing her, using coercive behaviour to demean and control her.
There’s lots of YA fiction out at the moment but Jenny Downham deals with this issue in unique manner; she pinpoints what daily life is like for Lexi without any controversial shocks and big twists. She keeps it real and shows teenagers that what can seem like normal relationship between a step-father and daughter is not that.
As the book progresses, we see Lexi try to deal with her anger and it was lovely to see her develop as a young woman and make a stand. This book definitely makes you feel angry and you go through a whole range of emotions as you connect with Lexi. The end of the book offers hope for Lexi and you see her stronger than at the beginning.

Genre: YA

Release Date: 4th February 2021



Lexi is a difficult girl. She'd rude, clumsy, angry ....

But girls aren't meant to be angry, are they? If she could just 'calm down' and act like a lady, maybe her mum would love her like she did before, maybe her stepdad would finally stop bullying her. Maybe she wouldn't catch the attention of creepy strange men. Maybe her crush who awkwardly is set to be married into the family soon might notice her one day.

So she tries. She tries to be the cool girl. She tries to "Be nicer, be sorry, calm down.". She tries to be the girl everyone expects her to be. But anger has a way of demanding to be felt and Lexi is set to explode.

This was a spellbinding commentary on a young girl discovering feminism and the rage that undeniably follows being a woman in the world. Enthralling and enchanting, this is the story of a girl who is never taken seriously, being bullied and abused for simply being a woman who dares to feel things too deeply and speak her mind.

The situations we go through with our new friend feel all too painfully familiar and so true to life, I was instantly in Lexi's corner and desperate to know where she's going next and it was far too easy to speed through every single chapter in one sitting.

One of the most beautiful parts of this story was the relationship between Lexi and her half-sister Iris. A beautiful, precocious six year old girl who is slowly learning that being an angry monster isn't always a terrible thing. Lexi so wants the world to be perfect for Iris, and the togetherness of living in an unfair world brings these two even closer than before.

And the end of this tale? It had me both blind with rage and full of laughter all at once, such a beautifully, heartbreakingly real conclusion to this chapter in Lexi's life.

Furious Thing is a must-read for every other angry woman out there.



RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐



Thank you to NetGalley and Jenny Downham for a reviewers copy in return for a review.

Wow, one of those books you read in one hit, highly recommended.

Told from the point of view of Lexy , she is a 15 year old girl whose mother is about to marry her ideal man John. The relationship between Lexy and John is an awkward one, she feels unheard and lashes out, whilst he feels disrespected. Her anger comes out as an overwhelming rage and desire to smash things up, and through the story, we see her getting angry at home, at school and everywhere. What's the story behind it all and how will it come to a head?

I really empathised with Lexy and wanted her mother to wise up to John's controlling behaviour, it felt like a well researched and sadly realistic relationship between them. I can see it would be a good book for teenagers to see some of the signs of controlling relationships too

I would recommend this wholeheartedly, 5/5 for me

Thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read it

Reviewing this book was not an easy thing to do. While I do liked the book, it contains so much and is made up of so many different layers it is impossible to address them all.

Furious thing tells a heart-wrenching and emotional story of Lexi, a 15 year old who’s home life is the opposite of calm or harmonic. It’s a story of a misunderstood young woman who has been and keeps on being let down by all adults around her. Lexi has serious problems controlling her anger and her outbursts are quite violent. But for me, it is so obvious she doesn’t to all these bad stuff just because she can. It’s a desperate cry for help, her way of protecting herself and those she loves. But no one seems to understand this and that is also the very reason to why I think this book is so important. So many, alarmingly many, adults are completely unaware of and blind to these warning signals. A teenager doesn’t rage or throw things just because they can, there is always a reason behind. And in cases like the one in this book, quite valid reasons if I may say so. I truly believe that if Lexi just got the support she needed, she wouldn’t be violent or throwing things at all. Her temper and actions are reflections of her home situation.

Although I think this book can open a lot of eyes to serious topics, such as emotional and verbal abuse, I’ve got a few problems with the book and how it is told as well. For one, the book touches the subject of ADHD and medication in quite a one-sided manner. Here, the medicin is used as a threat, Lexi needs to behave better or she’ll be forced to take the pills. Having experienced myself how much help the right pills can help a person struggling with ADHD, I hate to see someone using such pills as a threat. (Minor spoiler alert). The pills Lexi gets are obviously not the right ones for her but instead of the solution being she quits taking them, I would’ve wished she’d meet a doctor who new their stuff and could help her find the right sort and dose. So, while I really liked the book in general and definitely think it is worthy to read, I find the ending a bit troubling and quite abrupt. But I can see how that also reflects the reality and in fact enhances the statement. In real life, there are no happy endings and if there by some chance are, they are never perfect. We all try our best (except massive jerks like a certain person in this book) and usually, we get through pretty good anyway.

All in all, I liked the book a lot and it definitely made me want to seek out more of Jenny Downham’s books!

Unfortunately this book just wasn't for me. I sort of get what it was trying to do, but I thought that the mental health representation was poor, and I didn't like the way going to the doctor's was seen as comparable to being sent to prison. None of the characters I liked, especially not Lex, and I'm normally someone who can tolerate reading about unlikeable characters, quite often I even like them! The almost incest-y stuff contained in the book made me feel a little bit sick while I was reading it. Yes, they aren't blood related, but still, their relationship kept getting weirder and weirder as more details were revealed. Just gross.

The writing was okay, not my favourite, and honestly a lot of the book was really quite boring. A lot of the hard hitting topics in this book that I thought would maybe make me connect with this story more just didn't capture my interest and weren't handled in my opinion very well, so I'm not very impressed with this book. John, who is a horrible and abusive person, was at very worst called a bully by Lex. So yeah, no. Just no. Books like this need to exist, but handle the topics better than that. Also, Lex's age felt all over the place. She's meant to be 15/16, yet she reads much more like a twelve-year-old, which did confuse me while I was reading this.

Yes, YA contemporary doesn't tend to be my genre anyway, but I have found a handful that I've enjoyed, and this just wasn't it for me. I don't know, you might enjoy it, but overall it just wasn't to my taste, I had quite a lot of issues with it as a whole, and I hated the reading experience.