Book title: Weird but Normal: Essays
Author: Mia Mercado
Publisher: HarperOne
Published: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 0062942808
Price: Approximately RM49.98 (US$11.99 on Amazon)
Growing up, I wished I had an elder sister to confide in. I have an elder brother and although we are close, there are just some things that I find difficult to discuss with him or confide in. I am the second eldest among four siblings and have two younger sisters and I tried to be the big sister who I wished was there for me when I needed it.
This is where Mia Mercado’s “Weird but Normal: Essays” comes in. Although my siblings and I are now adults and we can confide in each other on almost anything, it feels nice to know that there are people out there who went through the same things I did while growing up.
In a series of essays where she dives into her childhood memories and eventual adulthood, Mercado isn’t afraid to put her embarrassing, and painful moments on display; hoping that someone will read them and feel more normal and a little less lonely. Mercado’s writing is funny, relatable, and memorable. She writes like a friend who is giving you advice which not only makes you laugh but also makes you stop and think.
One of the recurring topics in her essays is racial identity as Mercado is half-white and half-Filipino. Living in Malaysia, I realised that I did not have it as bad as her as she grew up in the Midwest in America, but her stories resonated with me.
She wrote about how a friend thought she was Hispanic all this while, because said friend thought that Hispanic people and Asian people are the same. It reminded me of a few conversations I had with Americans and Europeans, who thought that all Asians were the same and asked whether I could “speak Asian”.
Mercado’s experiences were similar to mine as being of half-Asian descent, she was either ‘too white’ to be considered Asian or ‘too Asian’ to be considered White. Like her, I was thought to be ‘too much of’ or ‘lesser than’ either side of my heritage.
However, you dont need to be of mixed-heritage to fully appreciate this book. “Weird but Normal” explores other topics like gender roles, workplace dynamics, and beauty standards. Mercado also tackles difficult topics such as racism, self-esteem, and depression carefully, but with sharp humour and wit.
In an interview with Writers Digest last October, Mercado said that she wanted to write a collection of essays that were personal, along with some pieces that are also conceptual, humorous, and satirical.
“I knew a thing that was going to be important to me was feeling like I could talk about my experience as someone who is biracial as a female in the Midwest. I wanted to make sure I could talk about all those things at length and not feel like I had to self-censor or ignore them entirely,” she said.
Mercado recounts things that seemed strange to her at that time, but society accepts as normal such as child beauty pageants and Hollywood’s standards on how women age.
Her work also explores uncomfortable things which most people think are weird or too taboo to speak about, but are actually very human and normal such as how she got teased for being ‘too hairy’ for a girl, birth control, menstruation, and sex.
But she also touches on things that everyone, regardless of gender, can relate to or something that they’re struggling or have struggled with, such as being stuck in a job that makes us feel unhappy or unfulfilled, and trying to build up an idealised representative version of ourselves in an online space that doesnt necessary reflects how we are in the real life.
Like Mercado, I am also a millennial and I saw bits and pieces of myself in her essays that are both nostalgic and hilariously embarrassing for me. I found myself chuckling as she recounts how she used to pick embarrassing online usernames which she thought would make her look ‘cool’ because I used to that when I was first introduced to the internet when I was a teenager.
If it’s not embarrassing enough, I still remember them.
While I would recommend this book to my fellow millennials, I would also recommend it to those in their late teens as they might learn a thing or two from Mercado. The chapters or essays in this book are not too long; some are even less than five pages on my Kindle. It’s ideal for those who like to do some light reading at the end of the day.
Her collection of personal memories tells us that we are all just trying to do our best, and thats okay. Through this book, Mercado shows us why it is strange to feel fine and fine to feel strange.
