I feel really conflicted with this book. After reading other reviews I can see most find it frustrating she never names the diagnosis but for me I loved this. As someone who has lived experience of varying disabilities/illnesses and with family members with varying mental illnesses I found it fascinating that X for me really showed the overlap of different conditions and the stigma around them.

What I found quite confronting with this book is my own personal difficulties in navigating someone with high support needs. I found the character incredibly frustrating, I wanted to skip through the book because I was getting so annoyed by her, but it’s also the harsh reality of knowing people can’t help it, that is their life and their brains and it’s powerful and scary but it’s also hard as an observer and you’re faced with the reality of that it’s hard for both parties.

The quote that got me was when she confronts her mum for hiding her diagnosis from her “but that’s the thing about labels, they’re very useful when they’re right, because then you don’t give yourself wrong ones like ‘difficult’ or ‘insane’…my whole life I’ve been trying to work out what was ‘wrong’ with me…” As more and more people are diagnosed with things people get so angry at labels and feel annoyed when people search for a diagnosis, this framed it so well for me.

Overall I did find the book a bit boring, it only got me hooked when she got a diagnosis as I related to her emotions more but generally this book didn’t live up to my expectations