The Ryen who is wise, caring and not afraid to take a stand for those around her. When Misha first meets Ryen, he realises that this Ryen is worlds apart from the Ryen he knows. Ryen is silent and passive when her so-called friends make homophobic and hateful remarks towards other students, she is aware that her own ‘friends’ despise her yet she plays along with the fickle, ‘I don’t have a single thought in my head’ persona. Please bear with me when I tell you that this very character we love to hate (or hate to hate in this case) is someone whose mind and perspective we see a lot. We all know, we all hate her but usually it’s bearable because she isn’t the main character and we have a heroine we can admire instead. Let’s be honest here, none of us enjoy the shallow, conniving Queen B who is out to make everyone’s life a living hell.

She has gone from someone is often isolated and mocked to someone that fits the popular, mean cheerleader stereotype to a T. Ever since she was a child, Ryen has yearned to fit in at school and become a popular kid that everyone gravitates towards. In fact, Ryen is downright spiteful and you can’t help but to loathe her actions and how she treats others around. Word of warning, Ryen is nothing like the plain Jane, sensible, somewhat likeable main character we’re all accustomed to. The dual narrative in this book is weaved intricately into the tale and it’s almost painful to see how both characters are experiencing the same emotions yet choose to convey them in completely opposing manners. Punk 57 is told in a dual perspective, some chapters begin with letters sent by both Ryen and Misha and we are initially introduced to the incident that leads to fracture in their relationship. I would trade my own mother to experience this book again for the first time so I’m going to keep this as spoiler free as possible so that you can exit this blog and go find a copy right away. I’m going to keep this blog spoiler free, this, my dear reader, is my solemn vow to you. Except, when Misha finally comes across Ryen and discovers that she is the girl he’s been writing to for the past seven years, he can’t resist and get closer to her. Misha and Ryen only had three rules: no social media, no phone numbers and no pictures. Ever since the first letter, the two have been inseparable and have been writing non-stop until a tragedy occurs which sees Misha withdrawing completely from Ryen. Punk 57 follows Misha and Ryen, two individuals who were paired together as pen pals seven years ago in the seventh grade.

The only difference is, some hide it and some wear it.”

Punk 57 book review