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A review by rachcannoli
Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers
3.0
Let me start by saying my rating is not because this is a bad book by any means, it's simply because I think this story was trying to accomplish quite a lot and never quite got there for me. Courtney Summers excels in writing difficult topics that are hard to stomach, a theme I think she's perfected with All the Rage, but while that one is not only difficult but incredibly compelling, this one does not read the same way.
Some Girls Are tries to be a book about bullying, revenge, untrustworthy friends, rape, and teenager problems all in one, which is a lot of ground to cover. To me the strength of this book is the betrayal of people Regina thought were her closest friends and realizing how toxic those relationships are and how they brought out the absolute worst in her. The inciting incident being her almost rape seemed to take too much of the focus away from that. I understood it's use, but I felt there were a lot of ways to illicit the same result without someone so extreme, even just the bruises or him hurting her could have been enough.
I did not enjoy reading this book, at all. I can understand a lot of the decisions made by the characters, no matter how horrific I think they are, but since I'm not a teenage girl I just got supremely frustrated. She should've just ignored everything and not fired back. She's such a dick to Michael for the majority of the book, I understand she deserves a break and he's a wonderful person and feels bad, but I just didn't quite see her make enough changes to deserve his love and it felt a bit rushed and extremely predictable. Did I want it to happen? Sure, since he was literally the only good thing in this entire book, but it still made me extremely frustrated.
Every other character is basically a garbage person, including Regina herself. Why the heck doesn't she tell her parents anything? I know that she's a teenager and thinks they can't do anything, but come on. Also they'd notice her bruises. There was one point after they beat her that her parents thought it was an accident from gym class...I mean come on thick can you get? I also understand that high school is such a status thing, but then just ignore everyone else, if it doesn't have power of you than it shouldn't affect you.
There are unfortunately parts of this book that are realistic. People can be truly terrible in high school, especially if you're even a little bit different, and there are incredibly toxic people that can get away with pretty much anything just because they're attractive. And toxic friends can also yield good memories, but as a whole you have to know they're not worth it. I think my biggest issue with this is Regina doesn't really learn anything. She fights back because she stops valuing her own preservation and the only way they can get to her is hurting someone else, so she may value her relationship with one person but I still don't feel she understands or learns really anything from the whole ordeal. Part of the problem is it just ends after they 'solve it' which isn't really solving anything, it's just another person threatening someone else. There's no closure between anyone and no one is better off for it except maybe poor Michael who was spared what could have happened by leaking his journal.
This is one of Summers older books, so I really do think it's just her having so many good ideas and not being able to properly channel them in the best possible way. The book is also quite short and could totally benefit from another 100 pages to flesh it out a bit more, but I can understand no one wanting to read more of how brutal her treatment was since they weren't really working towards proper catharsis. This could also be a more beneficial book for a younger audience since they wouldn't find the problems so irritating and trivial and hopefully open their eyes to simply be kind and treat others better. Not my favorite of hers and I probably won't ever reread it, but I can respect and understand why others like it a lot.
Some Girls Are tries to be a book about bullying, revenge, untrustworthy friends, rape, and teenager problems all in one, which is a lot of ground to cover. To me the strength of this book is the betrayal of people Regina thought were her closest friends and realizing how toxic those relationships are and how they brought out the absolute worst in her. The inciting incident being her almost rape seemed to take too much of the focus away from that. I understood it's use, but I felt there were a lot of ways to illicit the same result without someone so extreme, even just the bruises or him hurting her could have been enough.
I did not enjoy reading this book, at all. I can understand a lot of the decisions made by the characters, no matter how horrific I think they are, but since I'm not a teenage girl I just got supremely frustrated. She should've just ignored everything and not fired back. She's such a dick to Michael for the majority of the book, I understand she deserves a break and he's a wonderful person and feels bad, but I just didn't quite see her make enough changes to deserve his love and it felt a bit rushed and extremely predictable. Did I want it to happen? Sure, since he was literally the only good thing in this entire book, but it still made me extremely frustrated.
Every other character is basically a garbage person, including Regina herself. Why the heck doesn't she tell her parents anything? I know that she's a teenager and thinks they can't do anything, but come on. Also they'd notice her bruises. There was one point after they beat her that her parents thought it was an accident from gym class...I mean come on thick can you get? I also understand that high school is such a status thing, but then just ignore everyone else, if it doesn't have power of you than it shouldn't affect you.
There are unfortunately parts of this book that are realistic. People can be truly terrible in high school, especially if you're even a little bit different, and there are incredibly toxic people that can get away with pretty much anything just because they're attractive. And toxic friends can also yield good memories, but as a whole you have to know they're not worth it. I think my biggest issue with this is Regina doesn't really learn anything. She fights back because she stops valuing her own preservation and the only way they can get to her is hurting someone else, so she may value her relationship with one person but I still don't feel she understands or learns really anything from the whole ordeal. Part of the problem is it just ends after they 'solve it' which isn't really solving anything, it's just another person threatening someone else. There's no closure between anyone and no one is better off for it except maybe poor Michael who was spared what could have happened by leaking his journal.
This is one of Summers older books, so I really do think it's just her having so many good ideas and not being able to properly channel them in the best possible way. The book is also quite short and could totally benefit from another 100 pages to flesh it out a bit more, but I can understand no one wanting to read more of how brutal her treatment was since they weren't really working towards proper catharsis. This could also be a more beneficial book for a younger audience since they wouldn't find the problems so irritating and trivial and hopefully open their eyes to simply be kind and treat others better. Not my favorite of hers and I probably won't ever reread it, but I can respect and understand why others like it a lot.