Three books that will make you feel understood

We are all complex human beings. Without a doubt, we have all, at some point, felt rather misunderstood.

After all, we are teenagers and we go through existential crises at least twice a day.

Thankfully, we always have books that help us feel connected. With these books, we often feel at ease knowing that someone out there experiences the same complicated and unexplainable feelings as we do.

Here are three books that will make you feel understood.

This book is about a young girl called Elise. Elise, the least popular girl in school, often struggles with fitting in…until she unearths a secret warehouse party in her town.

Elise quickly makes friends at that weekly party. One of which includes the club’s DJ, Char. Char gets taken with Elise and offers to teach her how to DJ. Elise picks it up extremely quickly and slowly rises up to become one of the hottest DJs in the area.

While the book follows Elise’s journey to discovering her talents, the story largely focuses on what it’s like to be ostracised.

Interestingly, author Leila Sales might have experienced the exact same form of bullying in her life. You will find yourself relating with her inner monologue, her laments about life, and just who she is in general.

I know I’ve never read a book that I could relate with more than this one.

Wonder follows Auggie, a boy who is joining a mainstream school for the first time after being home schooled all his life. Auggie is an extremely smart and friendly person. However, the only problem is, he was born with a rare condition that has disfigured his face completely.

Auggie has lived his whole life having people shy away from him because they think he looks scary. However, nothing can prepare him for the special kind of torture reserved for school kids.

What is unique about this book is the constant changes in the point of views. You get to see Auggie from his own perspective, from the perspective of the bullies, and the perspective of those who are nice to him, but fear being excluded by association.

When I read the book, I remember feeling stunned as I could relate with each narrator. I even found pieces of myself in each character.

Have you ever read a fantasy book and wondered how on earth regular people don’t get affected by whatever’s going on in the story? You have boulders crashing into earth and monsters lurking in the streets but somehow, the humans always remain oblivious.

This book is all about the oblivious humans. We meet a group of friends who are just trying to graduate from high school. One of them has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), another is trying to get away from the small town and the rest are just trying to get by.

In the background, we have an ongoing supernatural storyline, but the story still focuses on this group of human friends.

You will feel like you are understood with this novel because it is just so ordinary. It’s very down-to-earth. It also offers a honest portrayal of what it’s like to be young and trying to make a mark in the world.

Do you have any other books that have summed up your emotions? Let us know in the comments.