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A review by princesszinza
Tease by Amanda Maciel
4.0
This young-adult novel is of the pulled from the headlines variety. I remember the case that this book is based on. I found that case and this novel thought provoking and personally affecting. Why? Because it deals with a subject that is known to me: bullying. I started doing Goodreads in order to remember what thoughts and emotions the different books elicited in me so that I could reference them in the future and hopefully remember a little of what I've read. Ok, deep breath, bullying always draws me back to my childhood. Perhaps, (besides the fact they are usually an easier and quicker read) I often choose to read YA fiction because I'm trying to fill some holes that I have from a weird and difficult childhood.
I always felt like I was the poster child for bullying. I was uncoordinated, extremely quiet, funny looking (very thin, homemade clothes, glasses, braces including headgear and to top it off a large permanent bald spot on the back of my head caused by an early childhood infection) and the worst athlete in a school where physical prowess was glorified beyond intellectual gifts. My bullying was usually physical - punching, kicking, balls thrown at my face and it was daily. I was also verbally taunted and isolated socially but those things never bothered me as much as being hit. I was so familar with being made fun of I had learned not to pay attention to it, getting punched hurt!
Anyway, I believed that I was the exception and my fellow classmates didn't face the same assaults and threats that I did. My pity party only had me as a guest - boohoo. Much to my astonishment I found out as an adult (facebook and class reunion revelations) that many of my fellow classmates were also bullied by the same people who bullied me. I was shocked!!! You never truly know what others are going through.
This book made me think of my childhood a lot. Emma is seemingly a completely different kind of victim than I was. She was beautiful, had boyfriends, a car, and a mother who stood up for her but she was still bullied by two girls in her high school. Brielle is the instigator and is written as the stereotypical mean rich girl. Her friend Sara, who tells us the story is more of a follower. She sticks close to Brielle, because she believes that it's through her more popular friend that she gains her popularity in school. At home, Brielle lovingly takes care of her two younger brothers, and resents her divorced father who started a new family.
These two girls are verbal bullies who taunt Emma and constantly call her a slut. Because of social media, their cruelty spreads among their high school classmates. Did Emma commit suicide because of the taunts, or because of her relationships with various boys in their class, or from family pressures that we don't know about? Emma was already in counseling and had transferred to different high schools. She was clearly troubled before she ever met Brielle and Sara. The answer is never revealed in the book. Emma apparently didn't leave a suicide note.
This book does a masterful job of making Sara a complete and eventually a somewhat sympathetic character. Brielle and Sara's boyfriend Dylan are not drawn as well. They are still mysteries to me. As is Emma, the girl who took her life before she had a chance to truly live. I think the author did an excellent job of raising all the right questions. The answers are left for us to figure out.
I know that bullies are often abused themselves. Bullies often times don't understand what they are doing or why they are doing it. I know that children are just not mentally equipped to realize that others around them have hardships as well. I believed that I was a kind, compassionate and mature child but I never looked around me to see that others were in pain as well. Children are focused on themselves. I don't think there is a true answer to bullying. I believe it's built into the human makeup. The best answer I have is a cliched one: be nice to everyone, you don't really know what they have been through or what they are going through now.
I always felt like I was the poster child for bullying. I was uncoordinated, extremely quiet, funny looking (very thin, homemade clothes, glasses, braces including headgear and to top it off a large permanent bald spot on the back of my head caused by an early childhood infection) and the worst athlete in a school where physical prowess was glorified beyond intellectual gifts. My bullying was usually physical - punching, kicking, balls thrown at my face and it was daily. I was also verbally taunted and isolated socially but those things never bothered me as much as being hit. I was so familar with being made fun of I had learned not to pay attention to it, getting punched hurt!
Anyway, I believed that I was the exception and my fellow classmates didn't face the same assaults and threats that I did. My pity party only had me as a guest - boohoo. Much to my astonishment I found out as an adult (facebook and class reunion revelations) that many of my fellow classmates were also bullied by the same people who bullied me. I was shocked!!! You never truly know what others are going through.
This book made me think of my childhood a lot. Emma is seemingly a completely different kind of victim than I was. She was beautiful, had boyfriends, a car, and a mother who stood up for her but she was still bullied by two girls in her high school. Brielle is the instigator and is written as the stereotypical mean rich girl. Her friend Sara, who tells us the story is more of a follower. She sticks close to Brielle, because she believes that it's through her more popular friend that she gains her popularity in school. At home, Brielle lovingly takes care of her two younger brothers, and resents her divorced father who started a new family.
These two girls are verbal bullies who taunt Emma and constantly call her a slut. Because of social media, their cruelty spreads among their high school classmates. Did Emma commit suicide because of the taunts, or because of her relationships with various boys in their class, or from family pressures that we don't know about? Emma was already in counseling and had transferred to different high schools. She was clearly troubled before she ever met Brielle and Sara. The answer is never revealed in the book. Emma apparently didn't leave a suicide note.
This book does a masterful job of making Sara a complete and eventually a somewhat sympathetic character. Brielle and Sara's boyfriend Dylan are not drawn as well. They are still mysteries to me. As is Emma, the girl who took her life before she had a chance to truly live. I think the author did an excellent job of raising all the right questions. The answers are left for us to figure out.
I know that bullies are often abused themselves. Bullies often times don't understand what they are doing or why they are doing it. I know that children are just not mentally equipped to realize that others around them have hardships as well. I believed that I was a kind, compassionate and mature child but I never looked around me to see that others were in pain as well. Children are focused on themselves. I don't think there is a true answer to bullying. I believe it's built into the human makeup. The best answer I have is a cliched one: be nice to everyone, you don't really know what they have been through or what they are going through now.