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lisaxq 's review for:
Althea & Oliver
by Cristina Moracho
Trigger warning: This book contains sexual assault and an abusive relationship between friends
****SPOILER ALERT****
I was excited to read this book because it was supposed to be a coming of age story about punk rockers. Instead I got a friendship story about two kids in North Carolina that reminded me of Dawson's Creek. Althea & Oliver are an unlikely pair, like Joey and Dawson, that have been inseparable since they were six. Like Joey and Dawson both have feelings for each other they don't know how to deal with...seems tame enough. However, in this story Oliver has a disease (Kleine-Levin Syndrome) that renders him unconscious for large periods of time, only waking to eat and use the bathroom and it's during one of these periods that Althea rapes him.
This is where the book becomes problematic, because no one is willing to call it rape. Oliver gets upset when he finds out what happened, because before his episode, he kissed Althea, but told her he wasn't ready when she asked him to come to her room. However, he's not willing to call it rape either, though, but his anger at Althea and his words clearly show he feels violated, because not only was the boy not conscious of his actions when it happened, he specifically told her he wasn't ready for it before it did happen. Althea was worried it would never happen if she didn't take matters into her own hands, but so what if it had never happened? That wasn't her decision to make. You can't just MAKE someone do something because YOU want them to. People aren't toys. Then when Oliver goes off to participate in a study and tells his new friend, Will, about what happened, Will acts like he's crazy. I mean why wouldn't you want to screw your beautiful best friend? He tells him to find her and do it again! At this Oliver's anger magically disappears. Althea on the other hand feels bad, but for selfish reasons. She's upset Oliver doesn't remember the incident and she's upset that Oliver is mad at her, because after all, he "wanted" it. She goes to New York to apologize to Oliver because she's afraid of losing him, but when she finally gets the chance she's flippant about it and after talking to his friend, Will, Oliver is dismissive because what guy wants to admit out loud that he was raped? I mean he "wanted" it anyway, right? So who cares how it happened...WTF!
I kept hoping that Althea would redeem herself, but here's what I got from the end of the book instead.
Althea shrugs - Sorry I raped you
Oliver - No worries, it wasn't really rape or at least I'm not ready to call it that and deal with my trauma yet or ever, because you're my best friend. Let's have consensual sex this time so I can pretend like the other unmentionable thing never happened.
Althea - Ok (they have sex, but it's not at all like last time. Althea liked last time better, but it's nice to see recognition in his eyes this time).
Althea - Our relationship is officially over now. I've got my eye on that Ethan guy. Have a nice life/See you when I see ya.
Oliver - Ok. Now I can pretend that nothing f**d up ever happened and we just went our separate ways after our relationship came to it's inevitable conclusion once we had consensual sex. See ya.
I feel disappointed and gross for having invested my time in what is essentially Althea's story since Oliver is asleep for large chunks of it.People aren't perfect, I get that. People make mistakes - I understand that, too. However, part of growing up is owning your mistakes and taking responsibility for them, rather that sweeping them under the rug. I know she's only 17, but I was hoping for just a hint of that from Althea since what she did was pretty f**d up. Instead by the end of the book I just got a sense that Althea who was already self-involved, was becoming even more self-involved...and yeah, finding yourself is part of growing up, but so is realizing how your actions affect others and that the world doesn't revolve around you/people aren't always going to do what you want them to. Ugh!
One star because the writing is good and perhaps it will lead to discussions about consent.
****SPOILER ALERT****
I was excited to read this book because it was supposed to be a coming of age story about punk rockers. Instead I got a friendship story about two kids in North Carolina that reminded me of Dawson's Creek. Althea & Oliver are an unlikely pair, like Joey and Dawson, that have been inseparable since they were six. Like Joey and Dawson both have feelings for each other they don't know how to deal with...seems tame enough. However, in this story Oliver has a disease (Kleine-Levin Syndrome) that renders him unconscious for large periods of time, only waking to eat and use the bathroom and it's during one of these periods that Althea rapes him.
This is where the book becomes problematic, because no one is willing to call it rape. Oliver gets upset when he finds out what happened, because before his episode, he kissed Althea, but told her he wasn't ready when she asked him to come to her room. However, he's not willing to call it rape either, though, but his anger at Althea and his words clearly show he feels violated, because not only was the boy not conscious of his actions when it happened, he specifically told her he wasn't ready for it before it did happen. Althea was worried it would never happen if she didn't take matters into her own hands, but so what if it had never happened? That wasn't her decision to make. You can't just MAKE someone do something because YOU want them to. People aren't toys. Then when Oliver goes off to participate in a study and tells his new friend, Will, about what happened, Will acts like he's crazy. I mean why wouldn't you want to screw your beautiful best friend? He tells him to find her and do it again! At this Oliver's anger magically disappears. Althea on the other hand feels bad, but for selfish reasons. She's upset Oliver doesn't remember the incident and she's upset that Oliver is mad at her, because after all, he "wanted" it. She goes to New York to apologize to Oliver because she's afraid of losing him, but when she finally gets the chance she's flippant about it and after talking to his friend, Will, Oliver is dismissive because what guy wants to admit out loud that he was raped? I mean he "wanted" it anyway, right? So who cares how it happened...WTF!
I kept hoping that Althea would redeem herself, but here's what I got from the end of the book instead.
Althea shrugs - Sorry I raped you
Oliver - No worries, it wasn't really rape or at least I'm not ready to call it that and deal with my trauma yet or ever, because you're my best friend. Let's have consensual sex this time so I can pretend like the other unmentionable thing never happened.
Althea - Ok (they have sex, but it's not at all like last time. Althea liked last time better, but it's nice to see recognition in his eyes this time).
Althea - Our relationship is officially over now. I've got my eye on that Ethan guy. Have a nice life/See you when I see ya.
Oliver - Ok. Now I can pretend that nothing f**d up ever happened and we just went our separate ways after our relationship came to it's inevitable conclusion once we had consensual sex. See ya.
I feel disappointed and gross for having invested my time in what is essentially Althea's story since Oliver is asleep for large chunks of it.People aren't perfect, I get that. People make mistakes - I understand that, too. However, part of growing up is owning your mistakes and taking responsibility for them, rather that sweeping them under the rug. I know she's only 17, but I was hoping for just a hint of that from Althea since what she did was pretty f**d up. Instead by the end of the book I just got a sense that Althea who was already self-involved, was becoming even more self-involved...and yeah, finding yourself is part of growing up, but so is realizing how your actions affect others and that the world doesn't revolve around you/people aren't always going to do what you want them to. Ugh!
One star because the writing is good and perhaps it will lead to discussions about consent.