(Book Review) This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“How could you say yes to webbed feet but no to a dress, yes to being who you are but no to dressing like him? How did you teach your small human that it’s what’s inside that counts when the truth was everyone was pretty preoccupied with what you put on over the outside too?”

“Easy is nice, but it’s not as good as getting to be who you are or stand up for what you believe in”

This book is not centered on one transition in a family, but actually the whole family member. At the beginning it feels like Claude is a lucky boy when his family just accepted him of what he wanted to become. But when Claude transitioned as Poppy, the family changed too and easy is not exactly a word to describe what Poppy’s family experienced. I learned that an acceptance is not about we accept our family member as who they are, but also to admit to the world about who they actually are.

Reading this book really makes me devastated and heartbroken. In a good way. I love everyone here. I love Penn and his belief in fairy tail and fantasy. I’m so in love with his bedtime stories and how all the boys tucked in one bed to listen to their father’s story every night. I love Rosie and her logic. I sometimes rolled my eyes reading her thoughts and bold decisions, but then again, sometimes we need to be slapped with a reality. I love Roo and all of his mistakes that it’s actually a reflection on how confuse he is and how much he wanted to help his family. I love Ben and his kind warm heart. His witty brain and tender heart is showing how such a perfect brother he is. I love the twins Rigel and Orion. How they show behind his goofy characteristic, they all care about their family so much. And Claude/Poppy….what’s not to love? Their tender pure heart, the innocence and the vulnerability, everything in them just made me want to run toward them and hug them and tell him that he’s loved no matter what.

I’m so happy that this book has a happy ending. Like I said, it’s sometimes too devastating and heartbreaking to read. I even stopped for a couple of days because some of the events that happened here really hits close to my life and it triggered my anxiety attack.

I truly recommend this book to those who needs a lot of courage to come out, or to support our loved ones.