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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
Tease isn't for everyone, but goddamn, what a thought-provoking book.
I'm only speaking from my personal experience as a YA reader, but reading a book that is essentially about bullying, from the bully's point of view, is a rare instance. You don't come across a book like this every day.
I've been bullied. I've been a bully. It's so fascinating to me to read about bullying from the bully's point of view, because that just doesn't happen often. And this is a book where bullying isn't glamourised, unlike in books such as The Clique, for example. This wasn't about mean girls ruling the school, being the best dressed and the richest, and belittling everyone around them because they like being on top.
This portrayed a more accurate depiction of bullying. I'm not claiming to be an expert, but more often than not, bullying stems from anger and insecurity. Sara being depicted as insecure (over whether or not she was still good enough for her boyfriend Dylan, especially that a pretty girl like Emma came along), and angry as a result of that insecurity, is so accurate and true. I'm not justifying bullying, but depicting bullying as one-sided and bullies only as evil caricatures and not actual human beings who made poor decisions does not give a story about bullying the substance it needs. Letting the bully tell the story is risky enough on its own, but Maciel pulled it off really well.
For example, she doesn't depict Sara as some sort of saint who made a mistake. We're not supposed to wholeheartedly like or sympathise with Sara as a character just because she's the protagonist; we're only supposed to be interested enough in her and her motivations to give her a chance to explain herself. She scrambles to justify what she did, that she didn't force Emma to kill herself nor send her death threats, that Emma was doing enough to be a good reason for Sara to do the things she did. And even though we're not supposed to agree with her reasons (well, I don't agree with them anyway, I can't speak for anyone else), it's enough for me to at least understand where she was coming from.
At the same time, it doesn't downplay Emma or her suicide. She wasn't depicted as someone only asking for attention, she wasn't depicted as a caricature of a promiscuous girl, rather, she was depicted as someone that other high school girls could find promiscuous and see as a threat. She wasn't written cartoonishly as someone who wore skimpy "inappropriate" clothing or whatever. She was depicted as a real girl who struggled with depression, had a hard time making friends, was ultimately seen as a threat by her schoolmates, and decided to take her own life.
This book was written so that I'm only reading the story and getting to know the characters through the protagonist Sara's eyes, but in a way that I can still detach myself from it and make my own assumptions. Sara thought Emma was a slut who deserved everything that came her way, and through Sara, Emma was depicted as a "slut", but I could still put the book down and come to realise that this is from a high school girl's POV, and that I, who has been through and is done with high school drama and politics, know there is way more to it than that. In other words, character motivations weren't being justified by the author herself but by the characters. I liked how Maciel did it, that the reader isn't forced to rely on how the protagonist sees everything and gives us the ability to absorb the story from the most objective view possible.
Even though this book was so cringe-inducing at times because HOLY SHIT, HOW MUCH MORE HIGH SCHOOL CAN YOU BE?! THIS IS THE MOST HIGH SCHOOL A HIGH SCHOOL HAS EVER HIGH SCHOOLED, it's a portrayal of a worst-case-scenario high school experience told from a side that is rarely written about. Again, not everyone's going to like it, I might be completely wrong about everything, but I found it to be a really complex, thought-provoking, and important novel.
I'm only speaking from my personal experience as a YA reader, but reading a book that is essentially about bullying, from the bully's point of view, is a rare instance. You don't come across a book like this every day.
I've been bullied. I've been a bully. It's so fascinating to me to read about bullying from the bully's point of view, because that just doesn't happen often. And this is a book where bullying isn't glamourised, unlike in books such as The Clique, for example. This wasn't about mean girls ruling the school, being the best dressed and the richest, and belittling everyone around them because they like being on top.
This portrayed a more accurate depiction of bullying. I'm not claiming to be an expert, but more often than not, bullying stems from anger and insecurity. Sara being depicted as insecure (over whether or not she was still good enough for her boyfriend Dylan, especially that a pretty girl like Emma came along), and angry as a result of that insecurity, is so accurate and true. I'm not justifying bullying, but depicting bullying as one-sided and bullies only as evil caricatures and not actual human beings who made poor decisions does not give a story about bullying the substance it needs. Letting the bully tell the story is risky enough on its own, but Maciel pulled it off really well.
For example, she doesn't depict Sara as some sort of saint who made a mistake. We're not supposed to wholeheartedly like or sympathise with Sara as a character just because she's the protagonist; we're only supposed to be interested enough in her and her motivations to give her a chance to explain herself. She scrambles to justify what she did, that she didn't force Emma to kill herself nor send her death threats, that Emma was doing enough to be a good reason for Sara to do the things she did. And even though we're not supposed to agree with her reasons (well, I don't agree with them anyway, I can't speak for anyone else), it's enough for me to at least understand where she was coming from.
At the same time, it doesn't downplay Emma or her suicide. She wasn't depicted as someone only asking for attention, she wasn't depicted as a caricature of a promiscuous girl, rather, she was depicted as someone that other high school girls could find promiscuous and see as a threat. She wasn't written cartoonishly as someone who wore skimpy "inappropriate" clothing or whatever. She was depicted as a real girl who struggled with depression, had a hard time making friends, was ultimately seen as a threat by her schoolmates, and decided to take her own life.
This book was written so that I'm only reading the story and getting to know the characters through the protagonist Sara's eyes, but in a way that I can still detach myself from it and make my own assumptions. Sara thought Emma was a slut who deserved everything that came her way, and through Sara, Emma was depicted as a "slut", but I could still put the book down and come to realise that this is from a high school girl's POV, and that I, who has been through and is done with high school drama and politics, know there is way more to it than that. In other words, character motivations weren't being justified by the author herself but by the characters. I liked how Maciel did it, that the reader isn't forced to rely on how the protagonist sees everything and gives us the ability to absorb the story from the most objective view possible.
Even though this book was so cringe-inducing at times because HOLY SHIT, HOW MUCH MORE HIGH SCHOOL CAN YOU BE?! THIS IS THE MOST HIGH SCHOOL A HIGH SCHOOL HAS EVER HIGH SCHOOLED, it's a portrayal of a worst-case-scenario high school experience told from a side that is rarely written about. Again, not everyone's going to like it, I might be completely wrong about everything, but I found it to be a really complex, thought-provoking, and important novel.