“She Drives Me Crazy” is a Young Adult novel by Kelly Quindlen, published in 2021. It stars Scottie Zajac, a lesbian basketball player in her senior year of high school who is still reeling from her latest break up. When she accidentally gets in a fender-bender in the parking lot with the equally as gay head cheerleader, Irene Abraham, the two are forced to carpool to school together. At first, they can’t stand each other, but hanging around Irene is giving Scottie, and by extension the basketball team, a popularity boost. So Scottie hatches a plan, she’s going to pay Irene the money to get her car fixed if she pretends to date her for the rest of basketball season, in order to make her ex girlfriend jealous. Irene goes along with it, and a gay fake-dating scheme is born. But will real feelings develop along the way?
So, judging by the summary of this book, I was expecting a light, fluffy rom-com about two very different people getting into fake-dating shenanigans and falling for each other throughout it all. And we do get some of that. But this book ended up exploring themes of self-worth in relationships that didn’t really sit right with me. A lot of the book is dedicated to exploring Scottie’s relationship with her ex, Tally, and how heartbreak can make people act out of character. Their relationship was toxic, and Scottie’s desire to get back at Tally leads her to hurt both herself and others. This makes for some compelling character development, but it also brought up my biggest issue with the book.
First, the good stuff. I like both Scottie and Irene, and I like how neither one of them were perfect. They both had their flaws, which impacts their relationship, and made them both feel more realistic. Irene’s determination to prove herself as a serious athlete, despite the common perception that cheerleaders aren’t real athletes, made her endearing to me, and I like that she brings Scottie around to her way of thinking throughout the novel. They both had some fun, flirty banter, especially at the beginning, and they do make for a cute couple. I also liked the fact that, even as she was developing feelings for Irene, Scottie still wasn’t over Tally yet, so she had to deal with all of those feelings before she could get together with Irene. I felt it was a good way to keep our main couple apart without it feeling contrived, and it allowed Scottie to really confront her hurt feelings about Tally and how Tally made her feel, which made for some good character development.
But it’s within this character development that my problem with the novel came up. I get that you shouldn’t be hung up on another girl while dating someone else, so it makes sense that Scottie would have to deal with those feelings before she can commit to Irene. But the book also delves into how Tally made her feel, both when they were dating and in the ensuing break up, so Scottie also has to work on getting her self esteem back before she can commit to Irene. Now, I don’t want to knock working on your self-esteem. I do think that it’s important to be confident in who you are and I think that it can make your life a lot happier if you’re comfortable with yourself. I don’t want to deny or discourage that. What I am going to push back against however, is Scottie's insistence, supported by the novel, that she “doesn’t want to give Irene anything less than her best self.” Because, the thing is, you can’t always be your best self. Sometimes people are broken, and messy, and complicated. And, I don’t know about you, but I would want a partner who sticks with me through all of that. Who sees me at my best and my worst and still stays by my side. Who would want to be with all of me, not just my best. I think the book has good intentions in trying to promote being confident with who you are, and that relationships should bring out the best in people, and not the worst. But, to me, it reads like “you have to be the best that you can be, the best version of yourself, in order to deserve a relationship.” and that doesn’t sit well with me.
I didn’t expect to be so harsh on this book when I picked it out. I wanted to start off my book reviews with a lighthearted rom-com, and, like I said, I do believe that the book has good intentions, but it left me with complicated and conflicting feelings. There’s lots to like in this novel, but there were the problems listed above. Depending on how you feel on it, you could skip this one, I feel there are better lesbian romantic comedies out there, ones I hope to write about and introduce to you soon!
