Jane Godwin, Look Me in the Eye, Hachette Australia, February 2024, 243 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780734420794
Do you ever feel as if you are being watched? Like the phone in your back pocket is secretly listening in to all your conversations and tracking your location? And who is paying attention?
As best friends Bella and Connie adjust to high school life, they are faced with a minor inconvenience; they must include Connie’s weird cousin Mish into their friendship circle, who is extremely reckless, disrespectful and unpleasant to be around. Especially when she forces Connie and Bella to do odd tasks such as leaving her phone in post boxes and impersonating her online.
Being Mish’s friend becomes a chore, and Connie and Bella grow increasingly worried about Mish, and the impact of their actions on her and their own families. Connie has her sick little sister to worry about, and Bella’s mum has a baby on the way. How much are they willing to sacrifice to help Mish? And why is this sacrifice necessary? It appears that Mish has many secrets of her own.
Look Me in the Eye provides an interesting insight into what teen life is like post-pandemic, with phone trackers becoming an increasingly popular way for parents to ensure that their teen is safe. The novel explores possible downsides to this method of parenting and suggests that an obsession with these apps can be extremely harmful in that teens are restricted in their freedom and trust between a parent and their child is non-existent. The novel also encapsulates themes of change and growing, as Bella must prepare to adjust to life with a new baby sibling.
Overall, this novel is perfect for teenagers in early high school and is an excellent representation of the challenges kids must overcome in a time when phones ‘rule the world’.
Reviewed by Emily Woolnough
