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thelibraryofalexandra's review against another edition
5.0
(post published on blog: https://writerpending.wordpress.com/2018/01/09/review-take-three-girls-by-cath-crowley-fiona-wood-simmone-howell/ )
I am going to be quite honest, I picked this book up because I saw the name ‘Cath Crowley’ and I had such a deep love affair with her previous young adult novel, Words in Deep Blue.
I was quite surprised how much I enjoyed this book. The main theme centres upon the friendship between Ady, Kate and Clem and finding one’s true self with the support of honest and authentic friends. It reminded me of a quote my mum had always told my brother and I, and that is, with friends, never worry about the quantity you have, but about the quality. And for this book, it definitely rings true. Take Three Girls is an exploration of friendship, identity, feminism and of self during a period of time in an adolescent woman’s life, where the pressure of society and its expectations, can drive you insane. More so, it talks about how cruel teenagers can be, especially in the age of social media.
The plotline itself is centred upon a gossip blog, where students literally post any sort of pathetic attempts for attention they can get – usually gossip and rumours outlining the sexual exploits of female students. There is thus an exploration of the expectations of girls in comparison to the expectations of boys, and how girls are just supposed to sit back and take the onslaught of absolute shit aimed at them, with a smile on their face. Basically, boys can do whatever they want, but girls need to remain a virgin, but not a prude, easy going, but not easy, slutty but not a slut. It really highlights the perception of women today’s society has, and how that, in effect, is resulting in the maintenance of a patriarchal, misogynist and sexist society.
However, one bone to pick. I don’t know if I am that completely out of touch with the world and language of the teenager in 2017, but they do not speak like that? Some of the languages is an over-exaggeration of abbreviated talk that just emphasises how unrealistic – what people imagine girls sound like in a conversation; but from personal experience of high school, and experience of placement, girls do not sound the way they are written in this book. Maybe in Netflix dramas. it reminds me of mean girls. and that is the one thing I couldn’t take seriously. Following from that, some of the nicknames for the places in the book, was so out of this world, I was just in awe. I live in Melbourne and I have never heard any of these words before, and we have some effed up abbreviations for things, but what this book claims Melbournians call things, yea nah.
But this is just one small insignificant quarrel that I had with the book. Seriously, this book needs to be read in high schools across the world, because it has such a fundamental message and it is so incredibly important for us to arm young women and young men with the tools, to create a better society.
I haven’t gone into detail about the characters themselves because I think that needs to remain a mystery so y’all can pick this book up and support Australian authors at their finest.
allie.
I am going to be quite honest, I picked this book up because I saw the name ‘Cath Crowley’ and I had such a deep love affair with her previous young adult novel, Words in Deep Blue.
I was quite surprised how much I enjoyed this book. The main theme centres upon the friendship between Ady, Kate and Clem and finding one’s true self with the support of honest and authentic friends. It reminded me of a quote my mum had always told my brother and I, and that is, with friends, never worry about the quantity you have, but about the quality. And for this book, it definitely rings true. Take Three Girls is an exploration of friendship, identity, feminism and of self during a period of time in an adolescent woman’s life, where the pressure of society and its expectations, can drive you insane. More so, it talks about how cruel teenagers can be, especially in the age of social media.
The plotline itself is centred upon a gossip blog, where students literally post any sort of pathetic attempts for attention they can get – usually gossip and rumours outlining the sexual exploits of female students. There is thus an exploration of the expectations of girls in comparison to the expectations of boys, and how girls are just supposed to sit back and take the onslaught of absolute shit aimed at them, with a smile on their face. Basically, boys can do whatever they want, but girls need to remain a virgin, but not a prude, easy going, but not easy, slutty but not a slut. It really highlights the perception of women today’s society has, and how that, in effect, is resulting in the maintenance of a patriarchal, misogynist and sexist society.
However, one bone to pick. I don’t know if I am that completely out of touch with the world and language of the teenager in 2017, but they do not speak like that? Some of the languages is an over-exaggeration of abbreviated talk that just emphasises how unrealistic – what people imagine girls sound like in a conversation; but from personal experience of high school, and experience of placement, girls do not sound the way they are written in this book. Maybe in Netflix dramas. it reminds me of mean girls. and that is the one thing I couldn’t take seriously. Following from that, some of the nicknames for the places in the book, was so out of this world, I was just in awe. I live in Melbourne and I have never heard any of these words before, and we have some effed up abbreviations for things, but what this book claims Melbournians call things, yea nah.
But this is just one small insignificant quarrel that I had with the book. Seriously, this book needs to be read in high schools across the world, because it has such a fundamental message and it is so incredibly important for us to arm young women and young men with the tools, to create a better society.
I haven’t gone into detail about the characters themselves because I think that needs to remain a mystery so y’all can pick this book up and support Australian authors at their finest.
allie.
nessochist's review against another edition
4.0
Hurricane Irma Power Outage Read #1 I love all three of these authors so I was super excited for this and it delivered in that special Aussie YA way. Anyone know who wrote which character? I have some suspicions but my cell data lasts about 30 seconds a pop before going back out again and I am LAZY.
shadeyc's review against another edition
5.0
Ugh, this is gorgeous.
These three authors! These three girls!
By the end of this book I wanted to hug them so fricking fiercely we'd all pop!
High school sucked.
I know only too well what rumours can do to you. I wish I had had back then just an ounce of the brilliance, bravery and beauty these three have when they are together.
I highly recommend this....yes to the guys too.
Friendships like this are not limited by gender.
These three authors! These three girls!
By the end of this book I wanted to hug them so fricking fiercely we'd all pop!
High school sucked.
I know only too well what rumours can do to you. I wish I had had back then just an ounce of the brilliance, bravery and beauty these three have when they are together.
I highly recommend this....yes to the guys too.
Friendships like this are not limited by gender.
teatales's review against another edition
5.0
[b:Moxie|33163378|Moxie|Jennifer Mathieu|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1494950979s/33163378.jpg|46824140] meets [b:Amelia Westlake|33296203|Amelia Westlake|Erin Gough|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1516659877s/33296203.jpg|54027851] in this wonderful #LoveOzYA book.
Excellent book!!! I loved it a lot!!! I like using exclamation marks!!
The plot is centered around a private school wellness program (EXTREMELY RELATABLE) which forces three ~unlikely friends~ - Ady, Clem and Kate - together. The wellness program is designed in response to the general culture of St Hilda's, particularly because of the issues surrounding the toxic gossip site PSST. The three girls have to look past the preconceptions they have of one another, learn more about themselves and ultimately get up to fabulous hi-jinks, shenanigans, and FEMINIST REVOLUTIONS!
Best bits:
- The writing: super engaging, I felt that it was quite true to life for Year 10 students without being too try hard with slang etc.
- The format: although the three perspectives took a bit of time to get used to (just cause my brain is like that) I loved how it was formatted. Each section starting with a Wellness worksheet, with regular first-person narrative, journal entries, and PSST posts in between. Also the slightly different fonts really assisted me in remembering who was talking.
- The characters: I loved the main three so much, and the secondary characters were great too (especially my man Oliver who I grew to love so much!). I liked how different all the protags were while still ending up as great friends. They all had different aspirations and focuses, but had lots in common too (like family issues, not knowing what to do with the future etc.) Relatable stuff no matter who you are!
- The plot: I love, love, LOVE the plot! Each girl has their own problems and things going on, and they have issues that overlap. Teaming up in the face of misogyny from all sides (internalised or otherwise) and all the drama that Year 10 brings to ultimately Come Through The Otherside and Embrace Being Yourself - FANTASTIC!
Any drawbacks?
- I'm so bad at keeping up with characters and this book had like fifteen, so it was a struggle for me (very much a personal issue)
- Told in three alternating perspectives which some readers might not like
- I felt like Max could've used more development as a character. I feel like I didn't get to know her in the same way I did Oliver or Ben.
I felt the creepiness and grossness of Stu was never properly addressed as much as I would have wanted it to be. 19 year olds shouldn't date 16 year olds - end of story!
cw: misogyny, slut-shaming, underage drinking, (brief) violence, alcoholism, drug addiction, bullying, homophobia, fatphobia, mentions of eating disorders and disordered eating, discussions of poor body image, sex, relationship between a 19 and 16 year old.
Excellent book!!! I loved it a lot!!! I like using exclamation marks!!
The plot is centered around a private school wellness program (EXTREMELY RELATABLE) which forces three ~unlikely friends~ - Ady, Clem and Kate - together. The wellness program is designed in response to the general culture of St Hilda's, particularly because of the issues surrounding the toxic gossip site PSST. The three girls have to look past the preconceptions they have of one another, learn more about themselves and ultimately get up to fabulous hi-jinks, shenanigans, and FEMINIST REVOLUTIONS!
Best bits:
- The writing: super engaging, I felt that it was quite true to life for Year 10 students without being too try hard with slang etc.
- The format: although the three perspectives took a bit of time to get used to (just cause my brain is like that) I loved how it was formatted. Each section starting with a Wellness worksheet, with regular first-person narrative, journal entries, and PSST posts in between. Also the slightly different fonts really assisted me in remembering who was talking.
- The characters: I loved the main three so much, and the secondary characters were great too (especially my man Oliver who I grew to love so much!). I liked how different all the protags were while still ending up as great friends. They all had different aspirations and focuses, but had lots in common too (like family issues, not knowing what to do with the future etc.) Relatable stuff no matter who you are!
- The plot: I love, love, LOVE the plot! Each girl has their own problems and things going on, and they have issues that overlap. Teaming up in the face of misogyny from all sides (internalised or otherwise) and all the drama that Year 10 brings to ultimately Come Through The Otherside and Embrace Being Yourself - FANTASTIC!
Any drawbacks?
- I'm so bad at keeping up with characters and this book had like fifteen, so it was a struggle for me (very much a personal issue)
- Told in three alternating perspectives which some readers might not like
- I felt like Max could've used more development as a character. I feel like I didn't get to know her in the same way I did Oliver or Ben.
cw: misogyny, slut-shaming, underage drinking, (brief) violence, alcoholism, drug addiction, bullying, homophobia, fatphobia, mentions of eating disorders and disordered eating, discussions of poor body image, sex, relationship between a 19 and 16 year old.
typedtruths's review against another edition
4.0
Well, I did not expect to like this, let alone love it.
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