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A review by kazuchuu
Frat Girl by Kiley Roache
3.0
Trigger warning: sexism, sexual assault, rape, homophobia
In all honesty, it is very difficult to come up with a conclusive opinion about this book. My enjoyment sort of went up and down throughout it all; there were scenes I really loved and scenes I rolled my eyes at.
Ironically, for a book that centres around feminism, that's not its best aspect. It's good, sure, but there were several flaws, like Cassie's double-standard for women and her "not-like-other-girls" attitude. She got called out on it, which was great, but I didn't feel like she actually learned a lesson.
Another issue with the book is that it quickly went from feminism to cheesy romance. And, okay, romance is cool sometimes, but something about Cassie's and Jordan's relationship was just too..."bleh" for me. It was cheesy and predictable, and it quickly turned from a sub-plot to the plot itself.
But I will give plus points for the way Cassie broke down the Greek life system and showed that, more often than not, educating those who are ignorant is better than simply looking down on them. Not to say that misogyny should be excused, but there are more mature ways of handling it, like Cassie teaching her frat brothers sex-ed, which was hilarious.
The book did a good job of showing that it's not really frats or sororities that "cause" sexism - sure, they could promote it - but the underlying issue is societal standards that everyone is brought up with, and often they don't see the wrong in them until someone points them out. A lot of the boys in Cassie's frat house show change when she educates them on how their actions hurt women. I was proud of Duncan the most, who went from straight-up misogynistic asshole to an open-minded feminist who would look at girls and see more than an opportunity for sex.
The ending was kind of...weird, though? Like there are supposed to be more pages but someone cut them out. It didn't seem like much was concluded, besides the whole "frat boys can be good too!" theme, which I'm sure wasn't meant to be the main thing. I would have liked to see Cassie spend some time with the sorority girls, especially the ones who called her out, so she can see the errors in her own view of feminism and understand that whether a woman is white or of colour, whether she wants a family or not, all women are equal and deserve the same respect men get for basically doing the same things.
So, all in all, I'd say this book was good, but it could've been even better.
3.5/5
In all honesty, it is very difficult to come up with a conclusive opinion about this book. My enjoyment sort of went up and down throughout it all; there were scenes I really loved and scenes I rolled my eyes at.
Ironically, for a book that centres around feminism, that's not its best aspect. It's good, sure, but there were several flaws, like Cassie's double-standard for women and her "not-like-other-girls" attitude. She got called out on it, which was great, but I didn't feel like she actually learned a lesson.
Another issue with the book is that it quickly went from feminism to cheesy romance. And, okay, romance is cool sometimes, but something about Cassie's and Jordan's relationship was just too..."bleh" for me. It was cheesy and predictable, and it quickly turned from a sub-plot to the plot itself.
But I will give plus points for the way Cassie broke down the Greek life system and showed that, more often than not, educating those who are ignorant is better than simply looking down on them. Not to say that misogyny should be excused, but there are more mature ways of handling it, like Cassie teaching her frat brothers sex-ed, which was hilarious.
The book did a good job of showing that it's not really frats or sororities that "cause" sexism - sure, they could promote it - but the underlying issue is societal standards that everyone is brought up with, and often they don't see the wrong in them until someone points them out. A lot of the boys in Cassie's frat house show change when she educates them on how their actions hurt women. I was proud of Duncan the most, who went from straight-up misogynistic asshole to an open-minded feminist who would look at girls and see more than an opportunity for sex.
The ending was kind of...weird, though? Like there are supposed to be more pages but someone cut them out. It didn't seem like much was concluded, besides the whole "frat boys can be good too!" theme, which I'm sure wasn't meant to be the main thing. I would have liked to see Cassie spend some time with the sorority girls, especially the ones who called her out, so she can see the errors in her own view of feminism and understand that whether a woman is white or of colour, whether she wants a family or not, all women are equal and deserve the same respect men get for basically doing the same things.
So, all in all, I'd say this book was good, but it could've been even better.
3.5/5