Actual Rating 4.5 Stars

Disclaimer: A physical copy was provided via Usborne YA in exchnage for an honest review. The Thoughts, opinions & feelings expressed in the review are therefore, my own.

If you have ever struggled to understand, just like yours truly, why people tend to overlook all that what makes you who you are; a exceptional brilliant human being; and ends up taunting you and nitpicking those few insecurities you have – then Jemima Small vs The Universe is a book that you NEED to pick up.

Do not for a moment to think that just because this book falls in the middle grade genre; that it does not have meaning across all ages or that it wouldn’t find meaning within anyone who picks up this book.

Jemima Small, is an intelligent, bright and a reservoir of factoids – has everything going for her. She is loyal, kind and has the EXACT amount of sass needed to be my friend for life :D

However, the fact that she is overweight, somehow tends to be the ONLY thing everyone in her life seems to be focusing on – this one point makes her the object of ridicule and at times even bullying; especially when she becomes a serious competition to her classmates when the TV Quiz Show “Brainiacs” comes to her school to shortlist participants. The fact that she is asked to join, what essentially becomes known as the ‘Fat Club’ doesn’t help her insecurities one bit!


The one thing that pretty much struck me, as the reader from the start till the end is the fact that everything in the book is RELATABLE to the teenager (and at times, the adult) in me – the anxiety, the insecurity and the fear; oh dear the fear was absolutely and perfectly written to give voice to the what you and I have felt at some point or the other in our lives.

Flawlessly composed; fiercely hopeful and absolutely relatable – Jemima Small vs The Universe is one book that SHOULD be on your TBR, or better yet; immediately read.



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