I Was Born For This // finding something to believe in

I Was Born For This is another Alice Oseman book that I totally adored. Like Radio Silence, it took me a little while to get into the writing and the story, but once I did I completely fell in love with these characters and their chaotic lives.



Fereshteh 'Angel' Rahimi is obsessed with the teen rock band The Ark. It is what gives her purpose, and she doesn't know how to love anything else. Jimmy Kaga-Ricci is The Ark's frontman. He is living his dream, but his life is changing faster than he can catch up with. Over the course of the novel, the lives of these two characters collide, as they discover more about themselves and what they believe in.

When I first heard that Alice Oseman was writing about a British-Iranian main character I kind of freaked out. Because that's me. I've never actually read a book with an Iranian protagonist before. There are hardly any, and I think I always felt a little scared of seeking them out. But Oseman's books feel safe and relatable to me, and she didn't let me down with Angel. Even though her culture wasn't central to the story, just reading her real name and seeing the terms of endearment her parents would use for her felt huge to me. Plus having her be a nerd girl was a big deal - because that was me too. I only wish I had this when I was younger, because maybe then I would have realised sooner that my life didn't have to be split into two halves.

I also adored Jimmy. I think that out of the two narrators, he was the one I related to more. I've always been the nerdy fangirl, but never quite to Angel's level (I never got attached to real people, only stories and fictional characters). Although I don't share any of Jimmy's life experiences, his anxiety was very vivid and real. The constant dread of terrible things happening can be felt by anyone, but I never considered it from the perspective of someone so high profile. He's unsociable and has serious issues with trust and self-worth. The ways in which he and Angel parallel each other whilst being so different is brilliant, and I loved discovering the unexpected connections between them.

Oseman manages to capture the intensity of teenage existential dread in every book she writes. These kids are ordinary despite the extraordinary. They drink Capri-Suns and watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine and play Cards Against Humanity and pretend to be drunker than they actually are, and it's these ordinary, messy lives that make me connect to the characters so deeply.

Like with all of Oseman's books, this is a story about friendship and finding your path. It's about figuring out your identity when life seems to be falling apart. But most of all, I Was Born For This is all about having faith and something to believe in, even if that something is yourself.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

★★★★★

YA Contemporary

 Standalone

 Angel is Iranian and Muslim. Jimmy is Indian-Italian, trans, gay, and Christian.

stalking, transphobia, alcoholism, blood, panic attacks

Goodreads