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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
This book is brutal, it's incredibly well written and beautifully descriptive but so complicated! It deal with seriously tough issues and it does it so well, it's a difficult read at times and very emotional and utterly heartbreaking but amazing and totally eye opening.
I adored the book and the characters who were all just as complex and complicated. Mindy McGinnis knows how to write characters that are scarred but so loveable and you can't help but love them but want to help them and save them.
I really like the way the animal shelter was brought into this and the way that animals were quite an important part of the story, they weren't included in the main plot but they were always there and they helped a lot of the characters convey emotions and I really liked that. I also really enjoyed how the animals and what had happened to them weren't sugar coated, it was real and it was hard hitting but it needs to be said and dealt with and I really liked how this book pushed how people are trying to help animals and how the animals deserve better.
I highly recommend this book!
Trigger warning: Rape, sexual abuse and cruelty to animals
I adored the book and the characters who were all just as complex and complicated. Mindy McGinnis knows how to write characters that are scarred but so loveable and you can't help but love them but want to help them and save them.
I really like the way the animal shelter was brought into this and the way that animals were quite an important part of the story, they weren't included in the main plot but they were always there and they helped a lot of the characters convey emotions and I really liked that. I also really enjoyed how the animals and what had happened to them weren't sugar coated, it was real and it was hard hitting but it needs to be said and dealt with and I really liked how this book pushed how people are trying to help animals and how the animals deserve better.
I highly recommend this book!
Trigger warning: Rape, sexual abuse and cruelty to animals
This is how I kill someone.
And I don’t feel bad about it.
I am reeling. This book is full of feminine rage. I went in thinking this would be a revenge tale but it was so much more. Its prose is set up from the POV of three characters: Alex, a loner whose sister was brutally raped and murdered 3 years ago; Jack, the popular guy who is fascinated by and wants to get to know Alex; and Peekay (real name Claire), the preacher’s daughter who has just been put aside by a guy for the beautiful and popular Branley, and befriends Alex.
Alex is detached from society and clearly still reeling from her sister’s murder. So much so, that she has taken the law into her own hands and killed the man who did it. Girl has issues and she knows it. It is definitely morally grey. Obviously, we shouldn’t agree with her methods (and Jack has issues accepting this part of Alex), but you can’t help but understand where she’s coming from.
As their senior year of high school unfolds, we are shown an unrelenting view of rape culture, slut-shaming, and sexual assault and the apathy society has towards it. Alex is on a mission to point out the bullshit of the "boys will be boys" mentality of society. It is gut-wrenching and hard to get through but so worth the read. Also, our secondary characters are just as complex and the ending is so unexpected. I am in pain.
This is not your typical YA novel. To all adults who may be set off by the trigger words of 'rape' and 'violence,' I say better to let your children be exposed to them in book form than in real life. This is something that should be read by all teenagers and adults alike.
And I don’t feel bad about it.
I am reeling. This book is full of feminine rage. I went in thinking this would be a revenge tale but it was so much more. Its prose is set up from the POV of three characters: Alex, a loner whose sister was brutally raped and murdered 3 years ago; Jack, the popular guy who is fascinated by and wants to get to know Alex; and Peekay (real name Claire), the preacher’s daughter who has just been put aside by a guy for the beautiful and popular Branley, and befriends Alex.
Alex is detached from society and clearly still reeling from her sister’s murder. So much so, that she has taken the law into her own hands and killed the man who did it. Girl has issues and she knows it. It is definitely morally grey. Obviously, we shouldn’t agree with her methods (and Jack has issues accepting this part of Alex), but you can’t help but understand where she’s coming from.
As their senior year of high school unfolds, we are shown an unrelenting view of rape culture, slut-shaming, and sexual assault and the apathy society has towards it. Alex is on a mission to point out the bullshit of the "boys will be boys" mentality of society. It is gut-wrenching and hard to get through but so worth the read. Also, our secondary characters are just as complex and the ending is so unexpected. I am in pain.
This is not your typical YA novel. To all adults who may be set off by the trigger words of 'rape' and 'violence,' I say better to let your children be exposed to them in book form than in real life. This is something that should be read by all teenagers and adults alike.
This was brutal, and at times, difficult to read, but discussed and really important topic in an interesting way.
here it is: the worst YA novel i genuinely have ever read
every single female character was "not like other girls" or "exactly what the NLOGs thought other girls were like" with incredibly few in between. the male characters were all exactly the same horndog 17yo jock or horndog 30yo creep; the main exception was the dads. this was supposed to largely be a conversation on rape culture and how teenagers deal with sex, both its positives and negatives, but good lord did it do this in the worst possible way on earth. even the setting was annoying and terrible: it's a small, rural town in a small, rural county (and god not a single character will let you forget it) and yet somehow still there are kids at the school the male POV doesn't know despite being THE most popular boy in school to the extent that people follow him through the hallways to take selfies after a successful football game, while that same character remembers others who graduated before he even started at the high school. also Peekay/PK is the worst fucking nickname of all time it is incredibly unbelievable that people would call her that to the point where several people (in this small, rural town) who have gone to school with her since preschool don't know her actual name. also there's no way a 14 year old would have gotten away with murder but i'm actually glad she did. fuck this book i'm so disappointed this was a librarian rec
every single female character was "not like other girls" or "exactly what the NLOGs thought other girls were like" with incredibly few in between. the male characters were all exactly the same horndog 17yo jock or horndog 30yo creep; the main exception was the dads. this was supposed to largely be a conversation on rape culture and how teenagers deal with sex, both its positives and negatives, but good lord did it do this in the worst possible way on earth. even the setting was annoying and terrible: it's a small, rural town in a small, rural county (and god not a single character will let you forget it) and yet somehow still there are kids at the school the male POV doesn't know despite being THE most popular boy in school to the extent that people follow him through the hallways to take selfies after a successful football game, while that same character remembers others who graduated before he even started at the high school. also Peekay/PK is the worst fucking nickname of all time it is incredibly unbelievable that people would call her that to the point where several people (in this small, rural town) who have gone to school with her since preschool don't know her actual name. also there's no way a 14 year old would have gotten away with murder but i'm actually glad she did. fuck this book i'm so disappointed this was a librarian rec
3.5 stars Solid story about a difficult and seldomly addressed topic in YA literature. The ended felt a bit rushed but the relationships between girls really hits the mark.
I feel like this book scratched the surface of a lot of issues and would have like to see it go deeper. Very gritty, difficult read. I loved the character development, though I think the author really missed an opportunity to explore pressures on teenage boys via the relationship of Jack and Branley. If you are ok with gritty, language, and extremely difficult subject matter, this is your book.
This book is about rape, violence and a weird girl getting back into society.
This is going to crush your feelings. It's so good. I really liked all the view points of this. I fell in love with each character. Even Brandley!! Thank god the "bitchy" character is well explained and not slut shammed.
Seriously though this book is brutally honest and I really recommend it to everyone.
This is going to crush your feelings. It's so good. I really liked all the view points of this. I fell in love with each character. Even Brandley!! Thank god the "bitchy" character is well explained and not slut shammed.
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 disdain and punctuated with an eye roll.
Seriously though this book is brutally honest and I really recommend it to everyone.
This kept me guessing until the end. I really didn't know how things would turn out until they ended and I was pretty surprised. I liked (and this may be the first time) that there wasn't a lot of resolution. I don't really know how everyone turned out. The only thing I didn't like with PK was it took me a long time to figure out her gender. Honestly, I don't know why. I guess there were just a lot of assumed things, but it took me a while. It does make me genuinely want to start fostering animals or work at an animal shelter. I was behind Alex every single step of the way.
