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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
This book was like a punch in the gut. Crazy powerful.
I loved this. It spoke so much with such a strange, twisting story that interested me from the very first page. I recommend the audiobook. The multiple perspectives have separate voice actors which helps tremendously with keeping everything straight in your head.
This book definitely packs a punch. The exploration of rape culture will leave you thinking after finishing. Though the characters did a lot of questionable things, that was the point, and I liked reading about events through the different eyes of Alex, Jack, and Peekay. One of my favorite things about this book was the friendship between Alex and Peekay. Overall, I’m glad I finally got around to reading this and I think it’s an important story.
i read this book a little over a month ago and only now am i really sitting down to write a review of it. i've made other attempts after i was done with it, but it was genuinely such a strong and powerful book that i struggled how to put that into words that expressed how much i loved this book. (struggled i say, as if i aren't struggling this Exact second. anyways! i am trying to be serious because i truly loved this book and think it deals with a lot of important and heavy subjects, but uh, yeah)
this book is mainly centred around alex craft, a high school senior whose sister anna was murdered years ago, and it especially deals with rape culture. i wanted to say that before i say anything more because this book really deals with some strong topics, such as rape or attempts of rape, and there are mentions of drugs and alcohol. so, if those topics are triggering for anyone or just can't/doesn't want to read about them, i wouldn't recommend this book. as much as i love it and deals with important topics, and i do, it's also very strong and heavy at times.
listen, i actually have notes of this book, okay. that does mean something because i never take notes. i rely on 'i guess i'll remember how i felt about the Whole Entire book, of course! why wouldn't i!' but in this case i took notes. that's how much i loved it.
so! what did i think of this book? first the characters:
-alex, who i loved. i thought she was very well written? there's a lot of mentions of her training for months, or years, so while that was a thing i was at the beginning concerned about, i could believe that she knew what she did. and i loved her development during the book. i loved how morally grey she was, and there's the whole topic of taking justice into their own hands, and how violent she could be but on the other hand she loved animals. i thought she was really greatly written, frankly.
-peekay is so great as well, i can barely put it into words. she cares so much about her friends, and i loved her relationship with alex and how she wanted to help. and i loved her development as well? i think she was my favourite, frankly.
-also! listen! i loved branley's character so much! do i think i like her as a person? not really, not for most of the book, but i loved how much depth she was given. i loved how mindy didn't just fall into the 'let's completely slut shame the female character who has sex and is pretty'. i'm not saying she was shown as a good person because she really wasn't for the most part, even almost at the end she did some things which make you go 'Why', but i thought she was the opposite of one dimensional, so i need to scream over my happiness that her character was written that way, because you can have a female character who isn't good but she's human, so she has good moments and that's what makes her realistic imo. also, when she
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helped peekay? i loved that moment so much. that she wanted to know she was okay after peekay was almost raped? i loved it so much. like my actual notes on that moment is just: 'branley wanted! to know that peekay was okay! mindy is actually giving her depth and i want to scream about it!', so there's that.-lastly, there's jack, who i... listen, i liked him for the most part. i guess i feel less strongly about him not because i didn't like him, but just because i feel so protective over the rest of the characters so he's more there, i suppose, but i liked him as well. i don't wanna keep repeating: He Seemed Realistic, but he did. he had good moments, and he wanted to become a better person and i really liked him.
i just really loved the characters, how human they seemed, how much depth they had. i just? have nothing bad to say about these characters. i think my favourite was peekay, though, when i think about it. i also loved alex, but maybe she seemed a little bit more distant and more mature, and i simply enjoyed peekay and her development more.
but i just adored the whole book. also, they had an actual moment where alex and peekay talk and they say like 'she wants to have sex, let her' about branley and i nearly screamed because one of my least favourite things is when books decide that slut shaming is a thing they Have to do, and here it wasn't done, and i was just very happy over it, okay, enough that i want to give it its own paragraph.
now, relationships! i mean, i liked the romance between alex and jack, it's not that i didn't, but also didn't care that much? honestly i've been thinking about it, and it may just be that i personally don't normally care about romantic relationships that much. i did like it when they had issues, like, which where the problems that appeared, and i started caring more about them then, if i think about it.
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like, jack having issues with what had happened is actually reasonable, it think. it's more realistic at least that him being 'oh what you've been murdering people??? yeah that's totally fine! i don't even need two seconds to get over it, it's fine!!'. i think it made sense that he needed some time, and then they worked through stuff and i was getting way more invested when they had that talk about alex trying. and i just liked that he wanted to become better for her?but listen the friendship? the FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN PEEKAY AND ALEX? that was so great, guys, i loved it so much. they protected each other and wanted to help each other and i just loved them.
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i do want to say that i adored how it was peekay that 'woke' alex up, i'm weak for friendships so that may be why i preferred it this way and not with romance, but... yeah. i just loved it.this book just deals directly with rape culture and shows you a lot of things which have become normalised and i genuinely don't... have much to say about it (like, yeah, it's wrong, we all know that. but i loved the more specific things, such as comments being said carelessly and a girl pretending it didn't bother her when it obviously did.
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or how peekay didn't report how she was almost raped even though she knew she should, and i think that's very realistic as well, i don't know. like, i thought her thought process was very well written, and i liked the development that happened by the end of the book.overall, i think this book is great at throwing you directly into the issue of rape culture and making you think about it. it shows you how many treat making comments about it as if they were jokes, and i actually really liked the scene where the cop goes to talk to the students. i can't really think of a single thing that i genuinely disliked. i loved the characters, they were so well written, and i loved the plot, and the ending destroyed me but i actually liked it too, so? yeah, listen, this book deals with a lot of important topics and i think that if anyone can read about those topics, it's worth the read.
Wow. A very well written story. I couldn’t put it down but at the same really wanted to put it down. If you read it, you’ll understand why.
In today's edition of "why do I not like all the books everyone else loves?!".........
Let's start with the most important thing here: This summary is very deceiving. I thought this was a book about a girl who killed for revenge, got away with it, and was proud of herself for doing so. The end of the summary even made it seem like a dark thriller about her killing again and her friends getting dragged into the mess. That is not what this book is, be warned. I realized this farther into the book than I would have liked, but I gave it a chance anyways.
Unfortunately, the things I hated about it really outweighed what I liked about it. What did I like about it? Alex. I'm not sure if I'm really supposed to given what she does, but I loved her. Maybe if the book had been taken out of the high school setting, I would have liked it more, I don't know. I also liked Peekay, especially her friendship with Alex.
What did I dislike about the book? Hope you have a snack with you!
The ending. I could see it coming from a mile away, I knew it was coming, but I just kept hoping I was wrong.
Branley. I am all for a good message about not slut shaming, but my god did the character it was done with have to be so terrible?! The few little details that were supposed to make me feel bad for her just did not work. Do I care that she wanted to have sex and sleep around? No. Do what you want. Do I care that she cakes on makeup and wears revealing clothes and spends forever getting ready? No. I repeat: Do what you want. Do I care that you are a pretty shit person? Yes.
This goes back to what I was saying earlier about the summary being deceiving, but it's more spoilery.
Jack. He wasn't as terrible as he could have been, but there is one thing that I'm still annoyed about:
Let's start with the most important thing here: This summary is very deceiving. I thought this was a book about a girl who killed for revenge, got away with it, and was proud of herself for doing so. The end of the summary even made it seem like a dark thriller about her killing again and her friends getting dragged into the mess. That is not what this book is, be warned. I realized this farther into the book than I would have liked, but I gave it a chance anyways.
Unfortunately, the things I hated about it really outweighed what I liked about it. What did I like about it? Alex. I'm not sure if I'm really supposed to given what she does, but I loved her. Maybe if the book had been taken out of the high school setting, I would have liked it more, I don't know. I also liked Peekay, especially her friendship with Alex.
What did I dislike about the book? Hope you have a snack with you!
The ending. I could see it coming from a mile away, I knew it was coming, but I just kept hoping I was wrong.
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Really, killing her off? So predictable. I know a lot of people wanted her paying for her crimes, but I wanted her to have a good life. Even a parallel to her father where she ends up leaving Jack right before college for his own good or something, but killing her off?! She was such a dynamic character and so different and ugh, I just really think this was a cop out ending.Branley. I am all for a good message about not slut shaming, but my god did the character it was done with have to be so terrible?! The few little details that were supposed to make me feel bad for her just did not work. Do I care that she wanted to have sex and sleep around? No. Do what you want. Do I care that she cakes on makeup and wears revealing clothes and spends forever getting ready? No. I repeat: Do what you want. Do I care that you are a pretty shit person? Yes.
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This was the other thing I fucking hated about the ending, her bringing Jack and Alex there at the same time like that. Any decent human being would not do that. Trying to get Jack back in general is a bitch move. It's not even a slut shaming thing, it's deliberately going out of your way to wreck someone's relationship when you are fully aware of how in love they are and how much Alex needs and depends on him. But to make them both come to the middle of the woods and try to seduce him? Literally doing nothing but trying to hurt Alex. I repeat: Not about slut shaming. It's that she was genuinely being a shit person. So yeah, maybe next time let's deliver a message by ohh I don't know, HAVING THE PERSON NOT BE THE CAUSE OF THE SOMEONE, ESPECIALLY THE MAIN CHARACTER'S DEATH.This goes back to what I was saying earlier about the summary being deceiving, but it's more spoilery.
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I thought Alex didn't feel bad about murder?? I still loved her, but the way the guilt started eating at her was kind of annoying because it was completely against what the reader was told about her. I thought she was a loner that didn't really talk to people? So how does she end up with Jack so easily and so quickly? I highly doubt it would be that easy for her to let him in.Spoiler
Jack. He wasn't as terrible as he could have been, but there is one thing that I'm still annoyed about:
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Did you really love Alex if you were so quickly like "oh well Branley's offering and Alex will never know..." fuck you, Jack, fuck you.
3.5 stars
This book is so important. The story itself wasn't the best but the message is so important.
Highlights from the book:
"She looks nice," I say, and she does. Branley always looks put together in a way that tells me she spends hours in front of a mirror before going outside. And while I don't understand that, I can respect it.
THIS IS FEMALE EMPOWERMENT
"But boys will be boys, our favorite phrase that excuses so many things, while the only thing we have for the opposite gender is women, said with a disdain and punctuated with an eye roll."
AMEN
This book is so important. The story itself wasn't the best but the message is so important.
Highlights from the book:
"She looks nice," I say, and she does. Branley always looks put together in a way that tells me she spends hours in front of a mirror before going outside. And while I don't understand that, I can respect it.
THIS IS FEMALE EMPOWERMENT
"But boys will be boys, our favorite phrase that excuses so many things, while the only thing we have for the opposite gender is women, said with a disdain and punctuated with an eye roll."
AMEN
