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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An uncomfortable read, but one that every young person should take the time to read. Anna Clark and her mum move to a tiny Scottish village. New home, new school, new.....name? Anna’s hiding a past, one the unfortunately rears it’s ugly head as it threatens to destroy her new life. Rumours are spreading....like fire. Told from Anna’s perspective, it covers sexual assault, body and slut shaming, bullying, pregnancy and abortion (to name a few). Added to the pot is the relentless unwanted attention that social media plays on young people in today’s society. Anna’s life is spiralling and she’s got no way of surviving. Thrown in to the mix are Anna’s visions/dreams following the research into local teen resident-come accused witch for a history project. Whilst they’re slightly disjointed with a supernatural element, the parallels drawn on treatment of those accused of witchcraft and treatment of women to keep them in line is a real eye opener.
This book by Laura Bates, founder of the #EverydaySexism project is for older teens. Anna is fleeing her old life where a photo of her was shared around the school and she was slut shamed. She and her mum flee to Scotland and start again with new names. But the pictures follow Anna to her new school - where she also feels drawn to another young girl, a couple of centuries earlier, who was burnt at the stake for being pregnant out of wedlock. Bates cleverly draws parallels between the two incidents and shocks us into thinking about this modern phenomenon as not a new one at all. Excellent book.
This book was a powerful depiction of bullying, sexual harassment, and other issues girls face everyday. Some parts were truly difficult to read since I felt awfully for Anna, but the ending was uplifting and reminded me that there are ways to overcome what one goes through.
"Anna is starting a new semester at a new school. She's hoping to outrun what happened at her last school, but she can't. She's having dreams about Maggie, a girl in the 17th century who was accused of witchcraft. Both girls are the victims of a mob mentality that demands perfect behavior from women.
Anna's experiences at school are probably the most realistic I've ever read, and by that I mean there might be trigger warnings for bullying and misogyny and abortion and sexual assault. The Burning is full of strong women who manage to stick together through all of that and more.
Anna's experiences at school are probably the most realistic I've ever read, and by that I mean there might be trigger warnings for bullying and misogyny and abortion and sexual assault. The Burning is full of strong women who manage to stick together through all of that and more.
Review going up in a few hours I need some sleep first lol
this book was good but the ending was super cliche and dumb
Powerful. Honest. Brutal. A novel about the damages of Social Media and how it can destroy one person's life. One wrong post is one massive Burn. It reminded me of a modern-day twist on the Salem Witch Trials, blaming one based on false pretenses. The book showed how easily a teen girl can be manipulated by promises of "love". All teen girls need to read this book, so they can understand that it's OK to stand up against bullies; that it's ok to say NO. The final scenes of the book blew me away...
⭐⭐.5/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
There was a lot this book lacked. It lacked depth, it lacked character. It didn't grab my attention like I hoped it would.
The premise is that Anna Clark has just moved to a new school and a new town, amidst something that happened at her previous school. Something that traumatized her, hurt her. This book shined a light on a subject that isn't talked about enough. Or if it is, it is usually categorized in the same category as victim blaming and "boys will be boys".
While the story itself moved quite quickly, the actual story hardly deepened. The author tackles topics like slut shaming, child pornography (slightly), sexual assault, rape, teenage pregnancy and abortion. Now, I am not saying we don't need to talk about those subjects more, but it was like the author threw dice on a table and whatever number it landed on she would bring up in the story. Most of it didn't have any way to further the plot, it was more like a side note as if saying, "Hey this also happned!".
Furthermore, the author placed an awkward no-needed supernatural element into the story. Anna is researching a young woman in the 1600s being tried as a witch for her school, but seeing as we never got to see the result of her paper on her, it was out of place and honestly I don't understand why it was there in the first place. The witch had no way of moving the plot forward and it made no sense.
Overall, this was a book that was put together more like a puzzle where not all the pieces fit, but the person doing the puzzle decided to leave it there because it "fit well enough".
This was not a moving, emotional book. This book was pretty "meh" all together.
There was a lot this book lacked. It lacked depth, it lacked character. It didn't grab my attention like I hoped it would.
The premise is that Anna Clark has just moved to a new school and a new town, amidst something that happened at her previous school. Something that traumatized her, hurt her. This book shined a light on a subject that isn't talked about enough. Or if it is, it is usually categorized in the same category as victim blaming and "boys will be boys".
While the story itself moved quite quickly, the actual story hardly deepened. The author tackles topics like slut shaming, child pornography (slightly), sexual assault, rape, teenage pregnancy and abortion. Now, I am not saying we don't need to talk about those subjects more, but it was like the author threw dice on a table and whatever number it landed on she would bring up in the story. Most of it didn't have any way to further the plot, it was more like a side note as if saying, "Hey this also happned!".
Furthermore, the author placed an awkward no-needed supernatural element into the story. Anna is researching a young woman in the 1600s being tried as a witch for her school, but seeing as we never got to see the result of her paper on her, it was out of place and honestly I don't understand why it was there in the first place. The witch had no way of moving the plot forward and it made no sense.
Overall, this was a book that was put together more like a puzzle where not all the pieces fit, but the person doing the puzzle decided to leave it there because it "fit well enough".
This was not a moving, emotional book. This book was pretty "meh" all together.
This was a very slow burn (pardon the bun) for me until about half way. I was trying to decide wether to leave it unfinished or power on as there wasn’t much gripping me to keep reading. However I’m glad that I did. The second half of the book is much better, and despite my constant frustration as to how this could actually continue to happen without anyone intervening, I did enjoy it. I agree with the quote on the front that all teen girls need to read this, but I think it’s important they then discuss the wider issue of social media and revenge porn with a trusted, mature adult. It also makes me extremely fearful of the day when my girls are teens and we have to navigate the world of social media. I really enjoyed the flashbacks to Maggie’s life, although it did make me quite sad to compare how women were slut shamed and treated poorly all the way back then and the same thing is still happening today. Albeit, not anywhere near as violent and unjust, but all the same, the general gist is still occurring to teen girls and young women every day. Not a massive page turner for me, but still worth a read.