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A review by theawkwardbookw
The Little Woods by McCormick Templeman
1.0
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Several years ago, Cally Woods older sister Clare, went missing in the woods at St. Bede's boarding school. She was never found. Cally begins attending this same boarding school in the middle of her junior year after a student goes missing. Upon arriving, Cally begins obsesseing over what happened to Iris, the missing girl, and decides to find out the truth.
************ MILD SPOILERS AHEAD.... ************
I found this book to be EXTREMELY problematic and can be VERY harmful for certain readers...
In one part of the book, it is mentioned that a character is asexual, another character goes on to say that asexuality is just a phase and basically doesn't actually exist.... ("Jack's totally cute, but he's a train wreck...Now he's saying he's asexual, whatever that's supposed to mean"). There were also other little comments in the dialogue that just made me uncomfortable regarding homophobia and gender roles. At another point in the book, it is said "10 minutes alone with her and you want to kill yourself" - in my opinion, this should NEVER be said about another human... and definitely should not be included in a YA novel... Another instance, Cally is alone with a boy and she has inner dialogue where she says "I began to think I did not want to fool around with him, but I was too exhausted to know for sure", this made me extremely uncomfortable because he then began to "fool around with her" even after she expressed her uncertainty.... Another point in the book it states "when I walked in, he was flirting with a skittish redhead who was clearly quarterbacking the St. Bede's anorexia squad." I do not find this appropriate in any way, shape or form...The whole book just made me very uncomfortable.
I hated the relationship between Alex and Cally. I found Alex to be very abusive in his comments and the way he treated Cally. I also did not like the relationship between Cally and the other boy either. I also did not like how Cally was cheated on, expressed how hurt she was by this boy and his actions and then immediately turned to another boy who was in a relationship to hook up with... This new boy also forced himself on her the second time they had an encounter when she expressed her uncertainty of their actions.
I felt that there were so many irrelevant things added into the plot just to make the book seem more interesting... It felt like the author was trying to include to many plot points, in an attempt to make the book more relateable in a way??? (suicide, anorexia, rape, goddesses, cutting) It just got to the point where I was wondering what she was going to try next.
Overall, this book just made me uncomfortable and I would not recommend it...
Several years ago, Cally Woods older sister Clare, went missing in the woods at St. Bede's boarding school. She was never found. Cally begins attending this same boarding school in the middle of her junior year after a student goes missing. Upon arriving, Cally begins obsesseing over what happened to Iris, the missing girl, and decides to find out the truth.
************ MILD SPOILERS AHEAD.... ************
I found this book to be EXTREMELY problematic and can be VERY harmful for certain readers...
In one part of the book, it is mentioned that a character is asexual, another character goes on to say that asexuality is just a phase and basically doesn't actually exist.... ("Jack's totally cute, but he's a train wreck...Now he's saying he's asexual, whatever that's supposed to mean"). There were also other little comments in the dialogue that just made me uncomfortable regarding homophobia and gender roles. At another point in the book, it is said "10 minutes alone with her and you want to kill yourself" - in my opinion, this should NEVER be said about another human... and definitely should not be included in a YA novel... Another instance, Cally is alone with a boy and she has inner dialogue where she says "I began to think I did not want to fool around with him, but I was too exhausted to know for sure", this made me extremely uncomfortable because he then began to "fool around with her" even after she expressed her uncertainty.... Another point in the book it states "when I walked in, he was flirting with a skittish redhead who was clearly quarterbacking the St. Bede's anorexia squad." I do not find this appropriate in any way, shape or form...The whole book just made me very uncomfortable.
I hated the relationship between Alex and Cally. I found Alex to be very abusive in his comments and the way he treated Cally. I also did not like the relationship between Cally and the other boy either. I also did not like how Cally was cheated on, expressed how hurt she was by this boy and his actions and then immediately turned to another boy who was in a relationship to hook up with... This new boy also forced himself on her the second time they had an encounter when she expressed her uncertainty of their actions.
I felt that there were so many irrelevant things added into the plot just to make the book seem more interesting... It felt like the author was trying to include to many plot points, in an attempt to make the book more relateable in a way??? (suicide, anorexia, rape, goddesses, cutting) It just got to the point where I was wondering what she was going to try next.
Overall, this book just made me uncomfortable and I would not recommend it...