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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
Okay. Before we get into this, I just want to say that the lens through which I’ll be judging this book feels unfair even to me (and that’s saying something because I rain hell on young adult contemporaries like they’re calling themselves the 21st century Ulysses), but the book brought it on itself!
(Note: At the moment, there are unmarked spoilers in the comments of this review. Please be aware so you don't spoil yourself.)
I went through the entirety of this thing thinking it was just ya average contemporary. I finished it being like, Um, okay, that was, uh...kinda weird, but I wasn’t ANGRY or anything. (Pretty rare for a just-finished-a-contemporary version of me!)
Then I read the synopsis. Particularly this little first-line number:
A contemporary YA novel that examines rape culture through alternating perspectives.
Uh.
The f*ck?
If this is supposed to be an examination of rape culture, LITERALLY WHAT. It could not be more sloppy. If you told me, “This was an edgy, kind of gritty contemporary, and then the publisher told the author to make rape culture a theme 45 minutes before it was due to the bookbinder, or whatever we do to physically print books in 2017,” I’d be like, yeah, okay.
In other words, this is exclusively an impressive look at rape culture in that incredibly specific hypothetical I just made up in which the time frame is roughly as long as the amount of time it takes to make brownies.
NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I SEEN SUCH A SLOPPY TAKE ON AN IMPORTANT ISSUE. NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I SEEN A MORE TERRIBLY WRAPPED UP ATTEMPT AT DEPTH AND PROFOUNDNESS.
(The caps lock is to symbolize the fact that I actually literally screamed out those words as I typed them. In real, actual life.)
There are a bunch of reasons why this is an unsatisfactory, incomplete,terrible examination of rape culture. Let’s talk about some of them.
ONE: Bringing in negative elements of rape culture without fully condemning or resolving them
There’s a sh*t ton of girl hate in this book. There is a hell of a lot of slut-shaming. The most consistent villain (in spite of the presence of murderers, rapists, and absentee parents) is a cheerleader.
All of this could be useful if it were condemned. Or if character development hit those who were participating in it. Or even if somebody went to Hallmark, bought an I’m Sorry card and f*cking signed it.
BUT NONE OF THAT HAPPENS. Because the ending occurs like 6 pages after the climax. SO NOTHING IS RESOLVED. More on that later.
TWO: Rape culture is just this thing that exists, intrinsically part of society, for reasons no one is aware of
Who the ever-living hell cares about an “““examination of rape culture””” if it offers no goddamn explanation for its existence? This book just, like, kind of sort of shows what rape culture is (if rape culture were to exist in a world populated with the most unrealistic, improbable humans of all time - but we’ll talk more about that later) without offering any reasoning as to why it’s a part of our society. NO FORM OF BIGOTRY IS AN ISLAND AS THEY SAY.
I’m halfway into a beginner level gender class and I can offer bare minimum four gender study terms off the top of my head! Which is, guess what, four more than this book even hints at! (This is not a brag; I am not an intellectual of gender studies. I literally do not even do the readings in that class.)
THREE: Rape culture is just here forever, intrinsically part of society, and there are no solutions ever at all sorry!!
Speaking of things that are an intrinsic part of societal examinations that are full-on not included in this book: We are offered no solutions. THE MAIN CHARACTER OF THIS BOOK MURDERS PEOPLE. That’s the closest we get to a “hey guys, here’s how we can stop this.” Actual, full-on, first-degree murder!!!!!!
We don’t even get a moral! I fought tooth and nail through 352 pages and we don’t even get a sense of what we can do, or how we can end this, or even how we can treat each other better. (Because, again: Unresolved girl hate. Yippee.)
FOUR: That f*cking ending!!!!
Almost all of my problems with this book stem from its sh*tty excuse for a conclusion. It’s like allllllll of the sudden, this book drops the self-importance and decides, “Hey wait, can we go back to that gritty contemporary idea??? That sounds better??? Less hard to definitively end????”
This ending features, nobody healing from the events, no idea of the future, no concrete solutions, no moral on rape culture, no ANYTHING ON RAPE CULTURE. Alex becomes famous for being a f*cking vigilante or whatever, which is so stupid I nearly went blind from dumbness overload, and then it just. Ends.
And I hate it. SO much.
FIVE: What the hell with these characters, man
An evil, obsessive cheerleader. A numb girl-murderer. Some jock with a heart of gold, maybe, but really just a d*ck that REFUSES to quit. A girl whose literal nickname is PK, for Preacher’s Kid, because that would definitely not only be widespread enough to warrant everyone recognizing it but FOR THE GIRL HERSELF TO ADOPT IT AS HER ACTUAL NAME.
They’re all so bananas. There is no way anyone like any of these people exists in real life. And so what, I beg of you, is the point of examining rape culture as it exists in our world when you’re using characters who absolutely don’t?
In true Emma fashion I don’t want to talk about this anymore, so I’m going to stop now.
Bottom line: As contemporaries go, this would have been a two and a half, three star read. But apparently this isn’t just your average contemporary, pals. It’s a fresh hell I could never have imagined.
----------------
PRE-REVIEW
so close, yet so far!!!
shoutout to contemporaries that decide to shoot for thematic significance in the last 20 pages, leaving dozens of loose ends and not even trying for consistently feminist rhetoric!!!
not a fan!!!!
review to come
(Note: At the moment, there are unmarked spoilers in the comments of this review. Please be aware so you don't spoil yourself.)
I went through the entirety of this thing thinking it was just ya average contemporary. I finished it being like, Um, okay, that was, uh...kinda weird, but I wasn’t ANGRY or anything. (Pretty rare for a just-finished-a-contemporary version of me!)
Then I read the synopsis. Particularly this little first-line number:
A contemporary YA novel that examines rape culture through alternating perspectives.
Uh.
The f*ck?
If this is supposed to be an examination of rape culture, LITERALLY WHAT. It could not be more sloppy. If you told me, “This was an edgy, kind of gritty contemporary, and then the publisher told the author to make rape culture a theme 45 minutes before it was due to the bookbinder, or whatever we do to physically print books in 2017,” I’d be like, yeah, okay.
In other words, this is exclusively an impressive look at rape culture in that incredibly specific hypothetical I just made up in which the time frame is roughly as long as the amount of time it takes to make brownies.
NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I SEEN SUCH A SLOPPY TAKE ON AN IMPORTANT ISSUE. NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I SEEN A MORE TERRIBLY WRAPPED UP ATTEMPT AT DEPTH AND PROFOUNDNESS.
(The caps lock is to symbolize the fact that I actually literally screamed out those words as I typed them. In real, actual life.)
There are a bunch of reasons why this is an unsatisfactory, incomplete,
ONE: Bringing in negative elements of rape culture without fully condemning or resolving them
There’s a sh*t ton of girl hate in this book. There is a hell of a lot of slut-shaming. The most consistent villain (in spite of the presence of murderers, rapists, and absentee parents) is a cheerleader.
All of this could be useful if it were condemned. Or if character development hit those who were participating in it. Or even if somebody went to Hallmark, bought an I’m Sorry card and f*cking signed it.
BUT NONE OF THAT HAPPENS. Because the ending occurs like 6 pages after the climax. SO NOTHING IS RESOLVED. More on that later.
TWO: Rape culture is just this thing that exists, intrinsically part of society, for reasons no one is aware of
Who the ever-living hell cares about an “““examination of rape culture””” if it offers no goddamn explanation for its existence? This book just, like, kind of sort of shows what rape culture is (if rape culture were to exist in a world populated with the most unrealistic, improbable humans of all time - but we’ll talk more about that later) without offering any reasoning as to why it’s a part of our society. NO FORM OF BIGOTRY IS AN ISLAND AS THEY SAY.
I’m halfway into a beginner level gender class and I can offer bare minimum four gender study terms off the top of my head! Which is, guess what, four more than this book even hints at! (This is not a brag; I am not an intellectual of gender studies. I literally do not even do the readings in that class.)
THREE: Rape culture is just here forever, intrinsically part of society, and there are no solutions ever at all sorry!!
Speaking of things that are an intrinsic part of societal examinations that are full-on not included in this book: We are offered no solutions. THE MAIN CHARACTER OF THIS BOOK MURDERS PEOPLE. That’s the closest we get to a “hey guys, here’s how we can stop this.” Actual, full-on, first-degree murder!!!!!!
We don’t even get a moral! I fought tooth and nail through 352 pages and we don’t even get a sense of what we can do, or how we can end this, or even how we can treat each other better. (Because, again: Unresolved girl hate. Yippee.)
FOUR: That f*cking ending!!!!
Almost all of my problems with this book stem from its sh*tty excuse for a conclusion. It’s like allllllll of the sudden, this book drops the self-importance and decides, “Hey wait, can we go back to that gritty contemporary idea??? That sounds better??? Less hard to definitively end????”
This ending features
Spoiler
a brutal, gruesome deathAnd I hate it. SO much.
FIVE: What the hell with these characters, man
An evil, obsessive cheerleader. A numb girl-murderer. Some jock with a heart of gold, maybe, but really just a d*ck that REFUSES to quit. A girl whose literal nickname is PK, for Preacher’s Kid, because that would definitely not only be widespread enough to warrant everyone recognizing it but FOR THE GIRL HERSELF TO ADOPT IT AS HER ACTUAL NAME.
They’re all so bananas. There is no way anyone like any of these people exists in real life. And so what, I beg of you, is the point of examining rape culture as it exists in our world when you’re using characters who absolutely don’t?
In true Emma fashion I don’t want to talk about this anymore, so I’m going to stop now.
Bottom line: As contemporaries go, this would have been a two and a half, three star read. But apparently this isn’t just your average contemporary, pals. It’s a fresh hell I could never have imagined.
----------------
PRE-REVIEW
so close, yet so far!!!
shoutout to contemporaries that decide to shoot for thematic significance in the last 20 pages, leaving dozens of loose ends and not even trying for consistently feminist rhetoric!!!
not a fan!!!!
review to come
Characters confused me at first since I couldn't keep them straight in my head. Got the hang of it around chapter 20 (might just be me). Short enough to savor the words. I've never met a character who speaks like Alex; I predict I won't ever again. I also did cry at the end so I warn against reading this in public. I usually hate reading about relationships in books because they're all lovey-dovey and I don't believe that it's realistic, but this was oddly a realistic depiction of high school relationships (friend or otherwise).
dark
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This whole book was a rollercoaster ride for me. My emotions were all over the place.
4.7/5
4.7/5
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"It's not safe for me to be out, but they rattled my cage."
Forewarned is forearmed: note the trigger warnings in the reviews. Don’t be fooled by the cutsie cover. This book is brutal! And heart-breaking! And powerful! And beautiful! And Alex Craft may be my favorite main character ever! "Do no harm. Be nice. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. But what if I don’t want to catch the flies? What if I’d rather see them swatted?"
Forewarned is forearmed: note the trigger warnings in the reviews. Don’t be fooled by the cutsie cover. This book is brutal! And heart-breaking! And powerful! And beautiful! And Alex Craft may be my favorite main character ever! "Do no harm. Be nice. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. But what if I don’t want to catch the flies? What if I’d rather see them swatted?"
So good! Revenge fantasy? Maybe. I kind of need it right now though.
This is the story of three high school seniors the year after a girl is raped and murdered:
Alex: the previously-invisible younger sister of dead girl who violently avengers her sister and gets away with it.
P.K. (aka Clare): the preacher's kid who befriends Alex, draws her out of her shell, and drinks too much.
Jack: the cool kid jock who's going places, who tries to be a good guy, but can't help it that he's a meathead.
Based on the summary, I got the impression this book was supposed to be about dealing with rape culture, especially in high school, and doing better. Instead, it felt like the author was capitalizing on rape culture to make a profit. Vigilante justice was depicted as the only way to deal with rapists, and everyone was just kind of okay with it? Also, the high schoolers had an unrealistic mix of maturity levels: they were immature enough to drink to incapacitation in unsafe settings regularly, but they were mature enough to accept and welcome kids who in any other high school would be considered weirdos and losers. It just didn't make sense.
Alex: the previously-invisible younger sister of dead girl who violently avengers her sister and gets away with it.
P.K. (aka Clare): the preacher's kid who befriends Alex, draws her out of her shell, and drinks too much.
Jack: the cool kid jock who's going places, who tries to be a good guy, but can't help it that he's a meathead.
Based on the summary, I got the impression this book was supposed to be about dealing with rape culture, especially in high school, and doing better. Instead, it felt like the author was capitalizing on rape culture to make a profit. Vigilante justice was depicted as the only way to deal with rapists, and everyone was just kind of okay with it? Also, the high schoolers had an unrealistic mix of maturity levels: they were immature enough to drink to incapacitation in unsafe settings regularly, but they were mature enough to accept and welcome kids who in any other high school would be considered weirdos and losers. It just didn't make sense.
This book was incredible trying to put thoughts behind the emotion