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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Suicide
Moderate: Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Alcohol
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Love. I've read this a lot of times and it hits hard every time. So good. Time jump format works so well here. I'm a fan and learned to love Sara despite the horrible things she's done.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Suicide
After I finished reading Tease and before writing this review, I read some reviews on Goodreads. I noticed some people say that the reason they didn't enjoy this book was because of Sara being such an unlikeable character. Well... duh! She's selfish and cruel and, frankly, thoughtless. She wasn't supposed to be the likeable best friend character. She was supposed to be the realistic mean girl. And while part of Sara knows that what she's doing to Emma is wrong, it's the part that bullies Emma that she feeds. After all, it's much more enjoyable to give into the things that make us feel better about ourselves than to admit what we're doing is wrong. So, yes. Sara is completely unlikeable, but I think that should be expected. However...
Overall, I think Tease was a good book (even if the ending didn't work for me). I think it provides a realistic and gritty look at how out of hand bullying can become. While it's not a nice and easy read, it was worth it.
Spoiler
I think Sara was supposed to viewed as repentant at the of the book, but I didn't really buy it. Her remorse felt very surface and unrealistic. Yes, I believe that she was more apologetic about what happened and the role she played in Emma's death than anyone else, but I have a hard time believing she was truly sorry. There was no moment in the book where she really comes to an understanding about the role she played. It was more of a spontaneous "Oops! I did a bad thing!" than a legitimate realization that she had a hand in causing someone to take their own life.Overall, I think Tease was a good book (even if the ending didn't work for me). I think it provides a realistic and gritty look at how out of hand bullying can become. While it's not a nice and easy read, it was worth it.
This young-adult novel is of the pulled from the headlines variety. I remember the case that this book is based on. I found that case and this novel thought provoking and personally affecting. Why? Because it deals with a subject that is known to me: bullying. I started doing Goodreads in order to remember what thoughts and emotions the different books elicited in me so that I could reference them in the future and hopefully remember a little of what I've read. Ok, deep breath, bullying always draws me back to my childhood. Perhaps, (besides the fact they are usually an easier and quicker read) I often choose to read YA fiction because I'm trying to fill some holes that I have from a weird and difficult childhood.
I always felt like I was the poster child for bullying. I was uncoordinated, extremely quiet, funny looking (very thin, homemade clothes, glasses, braces including headgear and to top it off a large permanent bald spot on the back of my head caused by an early childhood infection) and the worst athlete in a school where physical prowess was glorified beyond intellectual gifts. My bullying was usually physical - punching, kicking, balls thrown at my face and it was daily. I was also verbally taunted and isolated socially but those things never bothered me as much as being hit. I was so familar with being made fun of I had learned not to pay attention to it, getting punched hurt!
Anyway, I believed that I was the exception and my fellow classmates didn't face the same assaults and threats that I did. My pity party only had me as a guest - boohoo. Much to my astonishment I found out as an adult (facebook and class reunion revelations) that many of my fellow classmates were also bullied by the same people who bullied me. I was shocked!!! You never truly know what others are going through.
This book made me think of my childhood a lot. Emma is seemingly a completely different kind of victim than I was. She was beautiful, had boyfriends, a car, and a mother who stood up for her but she was still bullied by two girls in her high school. Brielle is the instigator and is written as the stereotypical mean rich girl. Her friend Sara, who tells us the story is more of a follower. She sticks close to Brielle, because she believes that it's through her more popular friend that she gains her popularity in school. At home, Brielle lovingly takes care of her two younger brothers, and resents her divorced father who started a new family.
These two girls are verbal bullies who taunt Emma and constantly call her a slut. Because of social media, their cruelty spreads among their high school classmates. Did Emma commit suicide because of the taunts, or because of her relationships with various boys in their class, or from family pressures that we don't know about? Emma was already in counseling and had transferred to different high schools. She was clearly troubled before she ever met Brielle and Sara. The answer is never revealed in the book. Emma apparently didn't leave a suicide note.
This book does a masterful job of making Sara a complete and eventually a somewhat sympathetic character. Brielle and Sara's boyfriend Dylan are not drawn as well. They are still mysteries to me. As is Emma, the girl who took her life before she had a chance to truly live. I think the author did an excellent job of raising all the right questions. The answers are left for us to figure out.
I know that bullies are often abused themselves. Bullies often times don't understand what they are doing or why they are doing it. I know that children are just not mentally equipped to realize that others around them have hardships as well. I believed that I was a kind, compassionate and mature child but I never looked around me to see that others were in pain as well. Children are focused on themselves. I don't think there is a true answer to bullying. I believe it's built into the human makeup. The best answer I have is a cliched one: be nice to everyone, you don't really know what they have been through or what they are going through now.
I always felt like I was the poster child for bullying. I was uncoordinated, extremely quiet, funny looking (very thin, homemade clothes, glasses, braces including headgear and to top it off a large permanent bald spot on the back of my head caused by an early childhood infection) and the worst athlete in a school where physical prowess was glorified beyond intellectual gifts. My bullying was usually physical - punching, kicking, balls thrown at my face and it was daily. I was also verbally taunted and isolated socially but those things never bothered me as much as being hit. I was so familar with being made fun of I had learned not to pay attention to it, getting punched hurt!
Anyway, I believed that I was the exception and my fellow classmates didn't face the same assaults and threats that I did. My pity party only had me as a guest - boohoo. Much to my astonishment I found out as an adult (facebook and class reunion revelations) that many of my fellow classmates were also bullied by the same people who bullied me. I was shocked!!! You never truly know what others are going through.
This book made me think of my childhood a lot. Emma is seemingly a completely different kind of victim than I was. She was beautiful, had boyfriends, a car, and a mother who stood up for her but she was still bullied by two girls in her high school. Brielle is the instigator and is written as the stereotypical mean rich girl. Her friend Sara, who tells us the story is more of a follower. She sticks close to Brielle, because she believes that it's through her more popular friend that she gains her popularity in school. At home, Brielle lovingly takes care of her two younger brothers, and resents her divorced father who started a new family.
These two girls are verbal bullies who taunt Emma and constantly call her a slut. Because of social media, their cruelty spreads among their high school classmates. Did Emma commit suicide because of the taunts, or because of her relationships with various boys in their class, or from family pressures that we don't know about? Emma was already in counseling and had transferred to different high schools. She was clearly troubled before she ever met Brielle and Sara. The answer is never revealed in the book. Emma apparently didn't leave a suicide note.
This book does a masterful job of making Sara a complete and eventually a somewhat sympathetic character. Brielle and Sara's boyfriend Dylan are not drawn as well. They are still mysteries to me. As is Emma, the girl who took her life before she had a chance to truly live. I think the author did an excellent job of raising all the right questions. The answers are left for us to figure out.
I know that bullies are often abused themselves. Bullies often times don't understand what they are doing or why they are doing it. I know that children are just not mentally equipped to realize that others around them have hardships as well. I believed that I was a kind, compassionate and mature child but I never looked around me to see that others were in pain as well. Children are focused on themselves. I don't think there is a true answer to bullying. I believe it's built into the human makeup. The best answer I have is a cliched one: be nice to everyone, you don't really know what they have been through or what they are going through now.
Emma Putnam has committed suicide because of the excessive bullying she experienced. This book takes place after her death, from the perspective of the bullies and the consequences they experience.
It was an interesting perspective on the effects of bullying. However, the main character is so stuck on stupid that I wanted to hit my head against the wall at different times. I was intrigued by the story, but not committed to any (including Emma and Sara) of the characters.
It was an interesting perspective on the effects of bullying. However, the main character is so stuck on stupid that I wanted to hit my head against the wall at different times. I was intrigued by the story, but not committed to any (including Emma and Sara) of the characters.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
God, I loved and hated this story equally. A must-read for sure!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide
"Tease" has several different meanings, connections and is a strong focus throughout this book. Whether its teasing such as bullying, acting like a sexual "tease" towards others, etc. this book allows you to understand the serious of bullying on all sides, not just the person bullied but also those who did the bullying. I really enjoyed this story and it definitely deserves all 5 stars. Like Ellen Hopkins reviewed, it is "Horrifying, satisfying and remarkable in so many ways". It was emotionally raw and something I will forever remember reading. If you liked 13 Reasons Why, this book is a great continuation of how hard it is being a teenager.
Tease is a difficult novel to read because it was incredibly believable. Amanda Maciel captures the social interactions, fixations, boredom and insecurities of the world of high school, particularly for teenaged girls, and shows the reader how little it takes to turn it into a toxic and destructive place.
The novel is told in flashbacks so that the reader pieces together the events, with some background knowledge of the motivation of the characters. The protagonist is a junior named Sara (ie, someone in grade 11). Sara and her best friend, Brielle, are a couple of the most popular girls at their school, and because of their popularity, they have an enormous amount of social klout and influence.
If these two girls had used their energy and efforts towards doing good, or even superficially building up their resumes, they could have been the types to be organizing the prom, holding fundraisers, running student council, and playing on teams — they have that much energy and focus when they set their minds on accomplishing a goal.
Unfortunately, they spend their spare time gossiping, planning pranks, looking down on everyone, and generally acting like queen bees. They are schadenfreude personified. Sara and Brielle focus all their hatred and schemes on a quiet, new student named Emma, and eventually, there is a critical mass that turns against Emma, which they take immense delight in orchestrating.
All the incidents of physical, emotional, and cyber bullying in the novel are hard to witness, especially because I have a daughter, because I teach in a high school, because I remember what high school was like. I know everything in the novel is possible. And author Maciel was inspired by real-life events.
So, my thoughts on Tease are that it is not an easy topic to read about, but one that needs to be continually addressed in as many ways as possible until the message gets through.The novel immersed me in the world of Sara’s high school and made me an observer to the bullying. I don’t like Sara and I can’t stand Brielle; I think the adults are useless, and yet, I can see all the characters of the novel existing in real life somewhere.
Tease is a novel that all students, parents and educators should read because it can help initiate discussions on bullying and hopefully prevent other tragedies like the one brought to life in this novel.
The novel is told in flashbacks so that the reader pieces together the events, with some background knowledge of the motivation of the characters. The protagonist is a junior named Sara (ie, someone in grade 11). Sara and her best friend, Brielle, are a couple of the most popular girls at their school, and because of their popularity, they have an enormous amount of social klout and influence.
If these two girls had used their energy and efforts towards doing good, or even superficially building up their resumes, they could have been the types to be organizing the prom, holding fundraisers, running student council, and playing on teams — they have that much energy and focus when they set their minds on accomplishing a goal.
Unfortunately, they spend their spare time gossiping, planning pranks, looking down on everyone, and generally acting like queen bees. They are schadenfreude personified. Sara and Brielle focus all their hatred and schemes on a quiet, new student named Emma, and eventually, there is a critical mass that turns against Emma, which they take immense delight in orchestrating.
All the incidents of physical, emotional, and cyber bullying in the novel are hard to witness, especially because I have a daughter, because I teach in a high school, because I remember what high school was like. I know everything in the novel is possible. And author Maciel was inspired by real-life events.
So, my thoughts on Tease are that it is not an easy topic to read about, but one that needs to be continually addressed in as many ways as possible until the message gets through.The novel immersed me in the world of Sara’s high school and made me an observer to the bullying. I don’t like Sara and I can’t stand Brielle; I think the adults are useless, and yet, I can see all the characters of the novel existing in real life somewhere.
Tease is a novel that all students, parents and educators should read because it can help initiate discussions on bullying and hopefully prevent other tragedies like the one brought to life in this novel.
Review originally published at Love Literature Art and Reason book review blog.
Tease is a controversial and hard to read novel for some. It’s about a girl who commits suicide after being bullied in high school, but it’s not written from the victim’s perspective. Instead, we get a completely unconventional point of view that can be hard to stomach.
For me, Tease wasn’t hard to read and I felt like Sara was a good character because she was realistic, even if she wasn’t the most likable. She had a huge part in the bullying of Emma Putnam, but she didn’t feel like it was her fault. Some reviews have called her a sociopath for not having any remorse, but I feel like that’s far from the truth and perhaps the point of the book. Sara wasn’t sorry because she didn’t realize that she was responsible. She felt like “everyone” thought Emma was a slut. She thought she was just chiming in and maybe it was mean, but it wasn’t, like, enough to make someone commit suicide. She felt like her teen years were hard and Brielle teased her, so if she can make it through without killing herself, even though it sounds tempting sometimes, then what was Emma’s problem? (It seems so awful, but I know I can’t be the only person who went to high school and totally remember that there were girls that “everyone” thought were sluts and we/everyone else just all kept repeating it.)
Sara’s point of view was one that I enjoyed because I thought the author showed quite well how those seemingly small things can affect someone and I think, towards the end, Sara began to realize exactly how she had a hand in her situation. At first, she blamed Emma for causing such a ruckus, stealing her boyfriend, and ruining her life. Like many teenagers, she didn’t’ realize that her own actions played a part and that she was part of her own problem. Also, the distance from Brielle over the summer made her realize how much Brielle influenced her.
Like Sara frequently said in the book, it wasn’t like they beat Emma up or anything. They didn’t corner her and punch her or physically harm her, so how can that really be bullying? I love that the author chose to create the storyline because I think it’s such a natural one. We don’t always see the name calling or subtle passive-aggressive comments as bullying, though it is. Girls are brutal. Women constantly shame one another for a variety of things. In high school, the slut shaming is endless. It’s normal for there to be girls that are just known as sluts. And the ones who aren’t? They must be teases. It feels normal because it’s so widespread, but Sara and Brielle took it even further by never letting up and creating awful schemes to embarrass or otherwise terrorize Emma. And even though Sara didn’t come up with the schemes, her very participation was why she ended up on trial.
The book also brings up how girls who strive to be popular can do things they feel somewhat bad about in order to fit in. Sara felt alive, like she had close friends, like she was fitting in, but also felt like she wasn’t normally someone important. How could she have such an impact on people? And as she constantly followed in Brielle’s footsteps, she participated in things she wasn’t always okay with, but brushed it off in order to not cause a scene. She did things she wasn’t ready for because she was afraid of being called a tease and because she thought it would help her fit in better. It’s so normal for teens to fall into those behaviors without realizing how quickly it turns sour. I think it’s also normal for girls to attack each other for stealing boyfriends and cheating instead of blaming the very guys that are playing along, which is also a major problem. I love that the book kind of brings it all up. It’s a murky world we are living in.
I highly recommend this book, though it seems like it was not a hit for some people. I think it can be difficult to read a book where the main character seems to not realize how awful she was being, but it’s easy to pretend like you are never mean to people or that things you’ve done aren’t a big deal, which is the point. The world isn’t black and white. The victims aren’t always picture perfect and the villains aren’t always evil and awful. People can do some terrible things without evil intent. This one is must read for book clubs and discussion purposes! It brings up so many great points.
Side Note: I see so many reviews that were negative because of the slut shaming, the high school lingo, or the fact that Sara had no remorse for much of the book. I get it, but I feel like maybe I was either terrible as a teenager and went to school with equally awful teens or people just don’t let themselves remember their own teen years correctly (and I think it’s a mixture of both). We did slut shame. There were girls that I knew literally nothing about, but I just “knew” they were sluts because “everyone” knew that. I’ve had awful rumors spread about me for being a slut (even when I wasn’t even sexually active), stealing boyfriends (even when I didn’t realize they were taken), being a tease (because I wouldn’t mess around), etc. I remember wanting to move shortly after starting at a new school because of rumors. However, I also made fun of people in order to avoid being singled out for not laughing. I’ve made awful comments about people that probably weren’t even true and perpetuated similar rumors to the ones spread about me except maybe I thought they were true about other people. I actively hated people I knew nothing about because I heard from someone else that something happened and they were bitches or whores or whatever. The things we did and said to each other were awful. And that was over a decade ago! And those things are STILL happening in high schools all over the globe. Once high school is over, I think a lot of people turn into regular people (though not everyone) and it can be difficult to imagine ever being petty or insecure, even though it’s something so many teens go through. I love the thought that went into creating the book and it’s definitely no argument that the author had a ton of material to work with. Girls bully each other everyday, but would NEVER identify with being a bully or even remotely accept that they were bullying. Because they would see their behavior as normal.
It baffles me that people seem oblivious and bring up all of the awful things in the book without realizing that the author was using reality to create a story and unfortunately, reality includes girls being generally terrible to one another for social reasons and creating a cycle of never ending slut shaming.
Tease is a controversial and hard to read novel for some. It’s about a girl who commits suicide after being bullied in high school, but it’s not written from the victim’s perspective. Instead, we get a completely unconventional point of view that can be hard to stomach.
For me, Tease wasn’t hard to read and I felt like Sara was a good character because she was realistic, even if she wasn’t the most likable. She had a huge part in the bullying of Emma Putnam, but she didn’t feel like it was her fault. Some reviews have called her a sociopath for not having any remorse, but I feel like that’s far from the truth and perhaps the point of the book. Sara wasn’t sorry because she didn’t realize that she was responsible. She felt like “everyone” thought Emma was a slut. She thought she was just chiming in and maybe it was mean, but it wasn’t, like, enough to make someone commit suicide. She felt like her teen years were hard and Brielle teased her, so if she can make it through without killing herself, even though it sounds tempting sometimes, then what was Emma’s problem? (It seems so awful, but I know I can’t be the only person who went to high school and totally remember that there were girls that “everyone” thought were sluts and we/everyone else just all kept repeating it.)
Sara’s point of view was one that I enjoyed because I thought the author showed quite well how those seemingly small things can affect someone and I think, towards the end, Sara began to realize exactly how she had a hand in her situation. At first, she blamed Emma for causing such a ruckus, stealing her boyfriend, and ruining her life. Like many teenagers, she didn’t’ realize that her own actions played a part and that she was part of her own problem. Also, the distance from Brielle over the summer made her realize how much Brielle influenced her.
Like Sara frequently said in the book, it wasn’t like they beat Emma up or anything. They didn’t corner her and punch her or physically harm her, so how can that really be bullying? I love that the author chose to create the storyline because I think it’s such a natural one. We don’t always see the name calling or subtle passive-aggressive comments as bullying, though it is. Girls are brutal. Women constantly shame one another for a variety of things. In high school, the slut shaming is endless. It’s normal for there to be girls that are just known as sluts. And the ones who aren’t? They must be teases. It feels normal because it’s so widespread, but Sara and Brielle took it even further by never letting up and creating awful schemes to embarrass or otherwise terrorize Emma. And even though Sara didn’t come up with the schemes, her very participation was why she ended up on trial.
The book also brings up how girls who strive to be popular can do things they feel somewhat bad about in order to fit in. Sara felt alive, like she had close friends, like she was fitting in, but also felt like she wasn’t normally someone important. How could she have such an impact on people? And as she constantly followed in Brielle’s footsteps, she participated in things she wasn’t always okay with, but brushed it off in order to not cause a scene. She did things she wasn’t ready for because she was afraid of being called a tease and because she thought it would help her fit in better. It’s so normal for teens to fall into those behaviors without realizing how quickly it turns sour. I think it’s also normal for girls to attack each other for stealing boyfriends and cheating instead of blaming the very guys that are playing along, which is also a major problem. I love that the book kind of brings it all up. It’s a murky world we are living in.
I highly recommend this book, though it seems like it was not a hit for some people. I think it can be difficult to read a book where the main character seems to not realize how awful she was being, but it’s easy to pretend like you are never mean to people or that things you’ve done aren’t a big deal, which is the point. The world isn’t black and white. The victims aren’t always picture perfect and the villains aren’t always evil and awful. People can do some terrible things without evil intent. This one is must read for book clubs and discussion purposes! It brings up so many great points.
Side Note: I see so many reviews that were negative because of the slut shaming, the high school lingo, or the fact that Sara had no remorse for much of the book. I get it, but I feel like maybe I was either terrible as a teenager and went to school with equally awful teens or people just don’t let themselves remember their own teen years correctly (and I think it’s a mixture of both). We did slut shame. There were girls that I knew literally nothing about, but I just “knew” they were sluts because “everyone” knew that. I’ve had awful rumors spread about me for being a slut (even when I wasn’t even sexually active), stealing boyfriends (even when I didn’t realize they were taken), being a tease (because I wouldn’t mess around), etc. I remember wanting to move shortly after starting at a new school because of rumors. However, I also made fun of people in order to avoid being singled out for not laughing. I’ve made awful comments about people that probably weren’t even true and perpetuated similar rumors to the ones spread about me except maybe I thought they were true about other people. I actively hated people I knew nothing about because I heard from someone else that something happened and they were bitches or whores or whatever. The things we did and said to each other were awful. And that was over a decade ago! And those things are STILL happening in high schools all over the globe. Once high school is over, I think a lot of people turn into regular people (though not everyone) and it can be difficult to imagine ever being petty or insecure, even though it’s something so many teens go through. I love the thought that went into creating the book and it’s definitely no argument that the author had a ton of material to work with. Girls bully each other everyday, but would NEVER identify with being a bully or even remotely accept that they were bullying. Because they would see their behavior as normal.
It baffles me that people seem oblivious and bring up all of the awful things in the book without realizing that the author was using reality to create a story and unfortunately, reality includes girls being generally terrible to one another for social reasons and creating a cycle of never ending slut shaming.