Kat Kennedy's Reviews > Not Otherwise Specified

Not Otherwise Specified is the story of Ella, a girl struggling with all the labels in her life. Bi, eating disorder, dancing, black, etc.

Not Otherwise Specified was a breathless read. In that, no really, I felt breathless a lot of the time. The Narration was like an unending stream of consciousness funnelling you right into Ella's every uncensored thought.

You'll find all the hallmarks of a great Moskowitz novel here. Thorough characterisation, relationship heavy, stunning writing, heartbreak.

But what you'll also find it that there's nothing really new here either. Ella worries, in the novel, that the theatre auditioners would know her bag of tricks and I think it's the same for this novel. Moskowitz has a bag of tricks - great tricks, beautiful tricks, heart touching tricks, but they can start to also feel a little tired.

I didn't feel like Not Otherwise Specified was a stretch for Moskowitz. Teeth was deeper. Gone Gone Gone more heartbreaking, Marco Impossible more fun. Not Otherwise Specified felt, in comparison, like a nice book. And that's what I can say of it. I know I'm being unfair because writing about the eating disorder stuff and the bulling stuff must have been a real struggle for Moskowitz. She really reached deep for those.

And if anyone else had written it, I think I would have been more impressed, to be honest. But because it was a Moskowitz book, I expected more from it.

But this is where my excitement ramps up because A History of Glitter and Blood sounds very very different to the contemporaries that Moskowitz has written in the past. So Moskowitz is already expanding on her bag of tricks it seems, and I am so, so excited to see what she comes up for for that.