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A review by rachaelgreatbooks
Amandine by Adele Griffin
1.0
I reread this book to revisit a book I liked in middle school.
While unsettling and creepy, this book is not a successful psychological thriller, because it's hard to believe the unreliable narrator. While she accuses Amandine of theatrical lying, there's not a lot of evidence that this is true. Except perhaps when Amandine blatantly lies to their mutual friend Mary about Delia's involvement in a cruel joke Amandine orchestrated against her. Ironically, Delia seems to be more of a proven liar than the villain of the story. Mostly I find the ending problematic because I only want books to promote a culture of believing survivors. I find the ending incredibly misogynistic and also harmful.
I read an article on Vulture recently called "Let's Celebrate the Stinky Heroines of Repulsive Realist Fiction" recently: https://www.vulture.com/2019/03/halle-butlers-the-new-me-and-the-trend-of-repulsive-realism.html In this article it celebrated books where heroines "rebel against the packaging of femininity and the oppression of the lacquered image." In Griffin's characterization of Amandine I found some of the trappings of this new subgenre of literature, but ultimately since you are ultimately supposed to side with the narrator of the book and reject Amandine, the book reinforces tropes about femininity.
The actual writing was very descriptive and fluid and I think that's originally what drew me to this book. The characters are complex, and have rich emotional lives which give a reality to the characters that is really refreshing. And I feel like this is a book that hits on relevant middle school themes such as belonging, friendship, and feeling alone.
Ultimately I would not recommend the book because I feel like it's content could give a harmful message to teens and tweens.
While unsettling and creepy, this book is not a successful psychological thriller, because it's hard to believe the unreliable narrator. While she accuses Amandine of theatrical lying, there's not a lot of evidence that this is true. Except perhaps when Amandine blatantly lies to their mutual friend Mary about Delia's involvement in a cruel joke Amandine orchestrated against her. Ironically, Delia seems to be more of a proven liar than the villain of the story. Mostly I find the ending problematic because I only want books to promote a culture of believing survivors. I find the ending incredibly misogynistic and also harmful.
I read an article on Vulture recently called "Let's Celebrate the Stinky Heroines of Repulsive Realist Fiction" recently: https://www.vulture.com/2019/03/halle-butlers-the-new-me-and-the-trend-of-repulsive-realism.html In this article it celebrated books where heroines "rebel against the packaging of femininity and the oppression of the lacquered image." In Griffin's characterization of Amandine I found some of the trappings of this new subgenre of literature, but ultimately since you are ultimately supposed to side with the narrator of the book and reject Amandine, the book reinforces tropes about femininity.
The actual writing was very descriptive and fluid and I think that's originally what drew me to this book. The characters are complex, and have rich emotional lives which give a reality to the characters that is really refreshing. And I feel like this is a book that hits on relevant middle school themes such as belonging, friendship, and feeling alone.
Ultimately I would not recommend the book because I feel like it's content could give a harmful message to teens and tweens.