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A review by hellalibrary
Runaway Train by Lee Matthew Goldberg
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Buckle up because I have some things to say about this book.
It’s the 90s and 16-year-old Nico has just found out that her older sister Kristen has died. Her parents marriage is falling apart so she grabs her mixtape, hops in her car, and road trips it from LA to Seattle to meet her idol Kurt Cobain.
Seems innocent enough, fun even!
Voiceover: It was not, in fact, fun.
First - let’s talk about the fatphobia ALL over this book. I want to shoutout @bookishbluebird and @yanitzawrites for educating us (ME) about this topic.
Nico’s sister was tall, blonde, skinny, and beautiful, ofc, and Nico is short, brunette and talked about her “muffin top” constantly. She would grab her belly in a self deprecating manner whenever a guy told her she was cute or hot or whatever. It was literally on every other page.
Oh, guess who the author is. He’s a white man. Of course! All teenage girls want to be made to feel self conscious about their looks when they read a book that’s geared towards them! Of course you can only be beautiful if you’re tall and blonde and skinny!
Let’s also talk about the overuse of drugs and gratuitous sex scenes, shall we?
Remember, 16 year old girl, written by a white man. MAN.
⚠️CW: Sexual Assault⚠️
There is one particular scene that made me extremely fucking uncomfortable.
Nico is camping, she meets a group of teens, they all drink and do drugs, and Nico wants to hook up with one of the guys. Nico wants to hook up with every guy actually. Literally all Nico wants to do is have sex.
In this scene, we hear her thoughts, she’s obviously super out of it, she’s floating in the sky and the next second, oh where’d my top go, etc. Oh, but he asks her, “is this ok?” and she says “yes.”
Is this really what we’re fucking calling consent now?
Am I fucking losing it? I’m genuinely curious about what ppl think bc to me that is not consent and to have that written in a YA book is very fucking dangerous, but other reviews say it was. I’m. Baffled.
I do NOT in good conscious recommend this book.
I do not even know what I’m supposed to do with this book I’m so angry. 🚮
White man. 16 year old girl.
Thank you to @wisewolfbooks for the copy.
It’s the 90s and 16-year-old Nico has just found out that her older sister Kristen has died. Her parents marriage is falling apart so she grabs her mixtape, hops in her car, and road trips it from LA to Seattle to meet her idol Kurt Cobain.
Seems innocent enough, fun even!
Voiceover: It was not, in fact, fun.
First - let’s talk about the fatphobia ALL over this book. I want to shoutout @bookishbluebird and @yanitzawrites for educating us (ME) about this topic.
Nico’s sister was tall, blonde, skinny, and beautiful, ofc, and Nico is short, brunette and talked about her “muffin top” constantly. She would grab her belly in a self deprecating manner whenever a guy told her she was cute or hot or whatever. It was literally on every other page.
Oh, guess who the author is. He’s a white man. Of course! All teenage girls want to be made to feel self conscious about their looks when they read a book that’s geared towards them! Of course you can only be beautiful if you’re tall and blonde and skinny!
Let’s also talk about the overuse of drugs and gratuitous sex scenes, shall we?
Remember, 16 year old girl, written by a white man. MAN.
⚠️CW: Sexual Assault⚠️
There is one particular scene that made me extremely fucking uncomfortable.
Nico is camping, she meets a group of teens, they all drink and do drugs, and Nico wants to hook up with one of the guys. Nico wants to hook up with every guy actually. Literally all Nico wants to do is have sex.
In this scene, we hear her thoughts, she’s obviously super out of it, she’s floating in the sky and the next second, oh where’d my top go, etc. Oh, but he asks her, “is this ok?” and she says “yes.”
Is this really what we’re fucking calling consent now?
Am I fucking losing it? I’m genuinely curious about what ppl think bc to me that is not consent and to have that written in a YA book is very fucking dangerous, but other reviews say it was. I’m. Baffled.
I do NOT in good conscious recommend this book.
I do not even know what I’m supposed to do with this book I’m so angry. 🚮
White man. 16 year old girl.
Thank you to @wisewolfbooks for the copy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts