Punk 57 by Penelope Douglas
Genre: NA Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book):
"We were perfect together. Until we met." Misha
I can’t help but smile at the words in her letter. She misses me.
In fifth grade, my teacher set us up with pen pals from a different school. Thinking I was a girl, with a name like Misha, the other teacher paired me up with her student, Ryen. My teacher, believing Ryen was a boy like me, agreed.
It didn’t take long for us to figure out the mistake. And in no time at all, we were arguing about everything. The best take-out pizza. Android vs. iPhone. Whether or not Eminem is the greatest rapper ever…
And that was the start. For the next seven years, it was us.
Her letters are always on black paper with silver writing. Sometimes there’s one a week or three in a day, but I need them. She’s the only one who keeps me on track, talks me down, and accepts everything I am.
We only had three rules. No social media, no phone numbers, no pictures. We had a good thing going. Why ruin it?
Until I run across a photo of a girl online. Name’s Ryen, loves Gallo’s pizza, and worships her iPhone. What are the chances?
F*ck it. I need to meet her.
I just don’t expect to hate what I find.
Ryen
He hasn’t written in three months. Something’s wrong. Did he die? Get arrested? Knowing Misha, neither would be a stretch.
Without him around, I’m going crazy. I need to know someone is listening. It’s my own fault. I should've gotten his number or picture or something.
He could be gone forever.
Or right under my nose, and I wouldn’t even know it.
MY OPINION: ****
This book is extremely hyped on TikTok and other social media and I was very excited to start reading it once I managed to get my hands on a digital version. While I had zero idea going in as to what this book was actually about, I had very high expectations due to the amount of love and hype that it has all over social media. I ended up really enjoying this book, though there were times when I found my mind wandering, if we're being completely honest.
This book featured a unique and special type of romance that I'm honestly not sure if I loved or hated. Misha and Ryen have been pen pals since fifth grade and live quite close to each other but have never met. Since Ryen's name is gender neutral, they were assigned to each other thinking they were both boys.
Both are now in high school and one night, Misha accidentally finds out who Ryen is in real life, though she doesn't know who he is. He finds himself very intrigued with her and ends up faking his identity (I was laughing at this part because of how ridiculous it was) and attending her high school three months later. We learn that he has gone through a horrible tragedy and has stopped writing to Ryen for three months. At the high school, his entire vision of Ryen is shattered as he realizes that she is a completely different person from her letter-persona and instead is a shallow, popular-girl-stereotype. This causes Misha to act out in quite honestly a cruel and horrible way.
I would like to say that I cannot condone Misha's treatment of Ryen in any way. He was cruel and quite frankly abusive at times towards her, verbally and emotionally. However, they find themselves growing closer to each other despite their personality clash and eventually, they give in to their feelings and start a sort-of relationship that causes a lot of conflicts, especially Misha has called himself Masen and has not told Ryen who he truly is.
Ryen herself is not a character that is easy to like. She's honestly a bully and is cruel to the one gay kid to make herself look better in front of her asshole friends. She cares more about her image than about anything else after experiencing social trauma in her elementary school days in which she doubted herself and her ability to make friends. However, in her letters to Misha, she truly explains the person that she wishes she was but can't make herself to be because of her obsession with reputation and image. I won't say that I hated her because I don't think she was truly a bad person but she was definitely not a character that I loved.
I did love the enemies-to-lovers trope in this book, namely because it is my favorite trope in YA and NA romances. Penelope Douglas does an excellent job of portraying the childlike love they have for each other in their letters, then the shattering of that mental image of each other, then the hatred they feel for each other, and then the love that they grow to have for each other. It all felt extremely real and didn't feel like a 1-2-3 step process; instead it was full of nuances and little conversations and actions that really helped to spur their relationship along in a gradual way until they eventually found themselves in love with each other.
I loved the music aspect of this book. Musicians, especially teenage male singers and guitarists, are never something I will say no to in a romance novel. I loved how the music played a role in Misha's character development and helped to portray his feelings for Ryen, both before and after they meet each other in real life.
Something else I loved was the Punk 57 aspect of the whole book. At the high school, someone is notorious for sneaking in and painting little words and phrases on the walls about people at school or about life overall. It was a very interesting element to add to the book that added extra layers to a particular character who I shall not name.
The ending was definitely a plottwist that I did not see coming.
I would recommend this book to readers looking for a fiery enemies-to-lovers romance novel. I am definitely excited to pick up Douglas's other novels, which I have heard equally amazing things about.
TW: homophobia, drug abuse, bullying, depression
Main Character: Misha, Ryen
Sidekick(s): Friends, family, etc
Villain(s): Lying, misunderstandings, drugs, bullying, depression, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all very real to life.
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