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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
It’s an intriguing idea to remix S. E. Hinton’s iconic The Outsiders with young women instead of young men. But for me, this didn’t quite hit the spot as I found it overly stylized and a bit of a trudge.
Evie, Connie, Juanita, and Sunny are “tough girls”, which, in 1964 Houston, means that they wear heavy eye makeup, smoke, and skip school. They have contempt for the “tea-sippers” from the other side of the tracks.
15 year-old Evie is the youngest of the group and the most innocent. She is almost raped by one of uppercrust boys, but is rescued by Diane who stabs him and accidentally kills him. Though Diane presents as a tea-sipper, she is living with her aunt in a small dingy house on the wrong side of town and goes to the same school as Evie. United by their shared trauma, Evie and Diane become friends, though the shadow of what happened looms over them both.
I read The Outsiders a long time ago and had very little recollection of it (probably not helped by getting it confused with Francis Ford Coppola’s film version), so I did a quick read of the Wikipedia page to see how the two books compare. While the set up for both books is similar, Bad Girls diverges on a major plot point, introducing a star-crossed Romeo and Juliet relationship.
The author intelligently highlights issues that were relevant to girls at the time (and still resonate today). The novel is very strong in its advocacy for the power of female friendship in an era when girls and women were more defined in relation to the men in their lives. Evie’s mother’s ambition for her daughters is for them to be married and settled with nice, steady men. But Evie doesn’t want this and it takes much of the book for her to be able to articulate the desire she has to just be able to choose for herself and make her own decisions.
I found much of the novel to be rather slow-paced and somewhat repetitive. Though written in a style that feels somewhat appropriate to the 1960’s and to pulp novels, the novel also has a modern sensibility that doesn't always sit comfortably. I thought the feminist ideas were a little shoehorned in (Evie’s sister is reading Betty Friedan) and Evie’s ideas about desegregation and civil rights, while admirable, felt rather too contemporary and adult, and seemed out of character (though I suspect this would be unnoticed by today’s teens). Conversely, thoughts about sex and sexuality are noticeably absent.
So, overall this was an okay read for me, but I have already purchased it for my library as I know many of my students really loved Ponyboy, Johnny, and the other greasers, and will be excited to read this new iteration.
Thanks to Roaring Brook and Netgalley for the digital review copy.
Evie, Connie, Juanita, and Sunny are “tough girls”, which, in 1964 Houston, means that they wear heavy eye makeup, smoke, and skip school. They have contempt for the “tea-sippers” from the other side of the tracks.
15 year-old Evie is the youngest of the group and the most innocent. She is almost raped by one of uppercrust boys, but is rescued by Diane who stabs him and accidentally kills him. Though Diane presents as a tea-sipper, she is living with her aunt in a small dingy house on the wrong side of town and goes to the same school as Evie. United by their shared trauma, Evie and Diane become friends, though the shadow of what happened looms over them both.
I read The Outsiders a long time ago and had very little recollection of it (probably not helped by getting it confused with Francis Ford Coppola’s film version), so I did a quick read of the Wikipedia page to see how the two books compare. While the set up for both books is similar, Bad Girls diverges on a major plot point, introducing a star-crossed Romeo and Juliet relationship.
The author intelligently highlights issues that were relevant to girls at the time (and still resonate today). The novel is very strong in its advocacy for the power of female friendship in an era when girls and women were more defined in relation to the men in their lives. Evie’s mother’s ambition for her daughters is for them to be married and settled with nice, steady men. But Evie doesn’t want this and it takes much of the book for her to be able to articulate the desire she has to just be able to choose for herself and make her own decisions.
I found much of the novel to be rather slow-paced and somewhat repetitive. Though written in a style that feels somewhat appropriate to the 1960’s and to pulp novels, the novel also has a modern sensibility that doesn't always sit comfortably. I thought the feminist ideas were a little shoehorned in (Evie’s sister is reading Betty Friedan) and Evie’s ideas about desegregation and civil rights, while admirable, felt rather too contemporary and adult, and seemed out of character (though I suspect this would be unnoticed by today’s teens). Conversely, thoughts about sex and sexuality are noticeably absent.
So, overall this was an okay read for me, but I have already purchased it for my library as I know many of my students really loved Ponyboy, Johnny, and the other greasers, and will be excited to read this new iteration.
Thanks to Roaring Brook and Netgalley for the digital review copy.
Audiobook. I’m not sure how I feel yet about novels inspired by other major works (like this one clearly mirrors the outsiders), but I do love the idea of the gender swap and think it was executed so well! Highly recommend to any outsider fan!
I enjoyed this book a lot, but it was missing that ‘spark’ that makes The Outsiders so special. The middle dragged on a little too much, particularly for a book this predictable. (Would it have seemed as predictable had I not read it through the lens of Ponyboy et al?)
The subject matter lends itself to YA, but the writing style felt closer to middle grade. I’m not sure what age group I’d recommend this to, but I’d recommend it to teens of some age.
Overall, this was a satisfying read.
The subject matter lends itself to YA, but the writing style felt closer to middle grade. I’m not sure what age group I’d recommend this to, but I’d recommend it to teens of some age.
Overall, this was a satisfying read.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
There were multiple times here where I marveled at the mediocrity of the writing and corrected it in my head -- there is no reason to use the same word twice in subsequent sentences when it's not a purposeful, aesthetic choice! But then the end of the book did make me cry, so!
I finished this book about a week ago and haven’t been able to stop thinking about it, so so good!
Okay my biggest complaint is with the title, because it makes it sounds like the Goonies when it’s an Outsiders retelling. But this is how a retelling should be, the original story is there, but uniquely it’s own. Don’t like another Johnny though.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Thanks to partner NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Roaring Brook Press for the digital ARC of Jennifer Mathieu’s Bad Girls Never Say Die in exchange for an honest review.
I’m a huge fan of Jennifer Mathieu’s Moxie, which is a fabulous feminist YA novel—we had a great discussion about that one on Unabridged Podcast!—and of S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders (though it’s been a while since I read it! Stay gold, Ponyboy). So, when I saw that Mathieu had a new book coming out that flipped The Outsiders to a female perspective, I was All. In.
Did it work? Well, here’s what I loved. As in Moxie, Mathieu builds a compelling protagonist, a fifteen-year-old named Evie who struggles with the limited expectations of her 1964 Houston, Texas, society and of her mother and grandmother. They are thrilled that Evie’s sister is married, even though it means that she moved far away and is so, so lonely. They make it clear to Evie that she should aspire to do the same.
But Evie wants more from her life. She wants choices. She wants to have friends who are tuff. She wants to think there’s a possibility that she can leave Houston.
With her best friends—Connie, who is the toughest of them all; Juanita, Evie’s sweet neighbor; and Sunny, whose sweet sincerity has led her into a controlling relationship with her boyfriend—Evie has started skipping school and wearing makeup and defying anyone to challenge her group.
I loved this part of the book, where we see exactly why Evie loves her friends so much, how much she wishes she could regain the close relationship with her mom and grandmother without limiting herself again, and the way Evie yearns for more without always being able to articulate exactly what “more” is.
Then, everything changes. And Evie is caught up in a situation that being tough can’t get her out of.
Mathieu beautifully depicts this world. There’s a huge disparity between the “tea sippers” of upper-class Houston and Evie’s own, lower socio-economic realm. Evie is a fabulously complex character, and we feel her connection to her friends, who step up to support her as much as they can.
But at a certain point (and I can’t say much more without spoilers), I felt like the book became focused on unfurling certain plot elements—often connected to its origin story—to the detriment of its rich characters. While the book certainly shares some elements with The Outsiders, it was most successful for me when it stepped out on its own, exploring Evie’s life and the limitations she defied, again and again.
Overall, though, Bad Girls Never Say Die is worth reading, and I would recommend it to students—this could be a foundation for many important discussions.
I’m a huge fan of Jennifer Mathieu’s Moxie, which is a fabulous feminist YA novel—we had a great discussion about that one on Unabridged Podcast!—and of S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders (though it’s been a while since I read it! Stay gold, Ponyboy). So, when I saw that Mathieu had a new book coming out that flipped The Outsiders to a female perspective, I was All. In.
Did it work? Well, here’s what I loved. As in Moxie, Mathieu builds a compelling protagonist, a fifteen-year-old named Evie who struggles with the limited expectations of her 1964 Houston, Texas, society and of her mother and grandmother. They are thrilled that Evie’s sister is married, even though it means that she moved far away and is so, so lonely. They make it clear to Evie that she should aspire to do the same.
But Evie wants more from her life. She wants choices. She wants to have friends who are tuff. She wants to think there’s a possibility that she can leave Houston.
With her best friends—Connie, who is the toughest of them all; Juanita, Evie’s sweet neighbor; and Sunny, whose sweet sincerity has led her into a controlling relationship with her boyfriend—Evie has started skipping school and wearing makeup and defying anyone to challenge her group.
I loved this part of the book, where we see exactly why Evie loves her friends so much, how much she wishes she could regain the close relationship with her mom and grandmother without limiting herself again, and the way Evie yearns for more without always being able to articulate exactly what “more” is.
Then, everything changes. And Evie is caught up in a situation that being tough can’t get her out of.
Mathieu beautifully depicts this world. There’s a huge disparity between the “tea sippers” of upper-class Houston and Evie’s own, lower socio-economic realm. Evie is a fabulously complex character, and we feel her connection to her friends, who step up to support her as much as they can.
But at a certain point (and I can’t say much more without spoilers), I felt like the book became focused on unfurling certain plot elements—often connected to its origin story—to the detriment of its rich characters. While the book certainly shares some elements with The Outsiders, it was most successful for me when it stepped out on its own, exploring Evie’s life and the limitations she defied, again and again.
Overall, though, Bad Girls Never Say Die is worth reading, and I would recommend it to students—this could be a foundation for many important discussions.
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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:
N/A