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sometimesleelynnreads 's review for:
You Too?
by Janet Gurtler
Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley, YA Bound Book Tours and Inkyard Press for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.
I don’t think you realize how much this anthology seriously hurt my heart. Especially since this novel is compiled of all essays from different authors and they told their real life experiences dealing with sexual abuse, sexual harassment, discrimination, racism. Just terrible things that as we were growing up, we didn’t realize that this was actually as bad and unspeakable as we thought until we grew up.
I feel like the one that I could relate to the most on various levels was the essay by Brownlee, because of the racism that she endured being a Black girl growing up. It’s interesting because in California, the racism wasn’t really as prevalent as when she lived in New Orleans, and it’s “funny” because that’s what I felt when I moved from Hawaii to Virginia. Just a very different group of people and while I also didn’t have to endure the sexual assault that she did during a school dance of all places, I could only imagine the shame she felt finding that out. Her story was just really one that I read and couldn’t help but see me in her.
I also really felt like Gurtler’s decision to make THAT essay the FIRST essay to read. Five years old, and being asked if she was lying. Being told that if she were to tell others, then they would blame her for what happened. My god. That part really just broke my heart, as did this entire novel because of the content and the fact that all of these stories took place in real life.
As stated in the very beginning of this novel, before the essays even start, the trigger warnings are clear and please take care of yourself before you start to read this novel. And I’m telling you now, the first essay will be a hard one to get through mostly because of her age when she was molested. Yes, she was molested. Just please be careful when you start to read these essays.
It’s also so hard to even really rate this novel because how can you put a rating on people’s experiences? I wouldn’t even want to have a negative feeling towards anything because I mean, who am I to really say anything about it, I guess? It’s hard. I had feelings throughout this whole novel for sure, and while this rating isn’t based on anything but my feelings on the novel and nothing else – no grammar issues, no pacing issues, nothing remotely constructive at all – I just had to really make sure that I was in the right mindset for this novel. Thank goodness I was.
I don’t think you realize how much this anthology seriously hurt my heart. Especially since this novel is compiled of all essays from different authors and they told their real life experiences dealing with sexual abuse, sexual harassment, discrimination, racism. Just terrible things that as we were growing up, we didn’t realize that this was actually as bad and unspeakable as we thought until we grew up.
I feel like the one that I could relate to the most on various levels was the essay by Brownlee, because of the racism that she endured being a Black girl growing up. It’s interesting because in California, the racism wasn’t really as prevalent as when she lived in New Orleans, and it’s “funny” because that’s what I felt when I moved from Hawaii to Virginia. Just a very different group of people and while I also didn’t have to endure the sexual assault that she did during a school dance of all places, I could only imagine the shame she felt finding that out. Her story was just really one that I read and couldn’t help but see me in her.
I also really felt like Gurtler’s decision to make THAT essay the FIRST essay to read. Five years old, and being asked if she was lying. Being told that if she were to tell others, then they would blame her for what happened. My god. That part really just broke my heart, as did this entire novel because of the content and the fact that all of these stories took place in real life.
As stated in the very beginning of this novel, before the essays even start, the trigger warnings are clear and please take care of yourself before you start to read this novel. And I’m telling you now, the first essay will be a hard one to get through mostly because of her age when she was molested. Yes, she was molested. Just please be careful when you start to read these essays.
It’s also so hard to even really rate this novel because how can you put a rating on people’s experiences? I wouldn’t even want to have a negative feeling towards anything because I mean, who am I to really say anything about it, I guess? It’s hard. I had feelings throughout this whole novel for sure, and while this rating isn’t based on anything but my feelings on the novel and nothing else – no grammar issues, no pacing issues, nothing remotely constructive at all – I just had to really make sure that I was in the right mindset for this novel. Thank goodness I was.