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A review by sobertyger
Tease by Amanda Maciel
2.0
Tease tells the story of Sara Wharton who is on trial after her bullying and harassment of new girl Emma Putnam is a contributing factor in Emma's suicide. The story is told through two timelines, Sara as she meets with lawyers and therapists in the present and Sara as she and best friend Brielle torment and tease Emma in the past.
This book just didn't work for me. Sara didn't possess enough redeeming qualities for me to accept her eventual change into a "better person" as she accepts a plea instead of allowing the case to go to trial towards the book's conclusion. At times, the plot was interesting and I enjoyed how the story unfolded, alternating from present to past, but there were too many things to dislike about this book.
In many ways, I felt like I was reading Before I Fall all over again. Here are some of the two books' similarities:
-shallow and vapid narrator
-toxic best friend who controls the narrator
-main character who is obsessed with her social status and terrified of losing it
-generic "hot" jock boyfriend with next to zero character development
-best friend who brags about her sexual exploits but is later revealed to have been raped or otherwise had a horrible "first time"
-the bullying and harassment of another student looked upon by the main character as "fun" and socially acceptable
-bullying a student by sending them flowers at school
-barely present bullied character's suicide/attempted suicide being strongly connected to the main character without the reader ever getting to learn much about the bullied character
-main character meeting a new guy who is beneath her socially but turns out to be a great guy once the shallow girl can see past social hierarchy
-the message that a girl must have a boyfriend (what's wrong with her being alone for a while? Why the new guy when it doesn't work out with the boyfriend? Very eye roll worthy)
-finally, the main character's transformation from shallow brainless horrible person to remorseful redeemable person being too little, too late
This book just didn't work for me. Sara didn't possess enough redeeming qualities for me to accept her eventual change into a "better person" as she accepts a plea instead of allowing the case to go to trial towards the book's conclusion. At times, the plot was interesting and I enjoyed how the story unfolded, alternating from present to past, but there were too many things to dislike about this book.
In many ways, I felt like I was reading Before I Fall all over again. Here are some of the two books' similarities:
-shallow and vapid narrator
-toxic best friend who controls the narrator
-main character who is obsessed with her social status and terrified of losing it
-generic "hot" jock boyfriend with next to zero character development
-best friend who brags about her sexual exploits but is later revealed to have been raped or otherwise had a horrible "first time"
-the bullying and harassment of another student looked upon by the main character as "fun" and socially acceptable
-bullying a student by sending them flowers at school
-barely present bullied character's suicide/attempted suicide being strongly connected to the main character without the reader ever getting to learn much about the bullied character
-main character meeting a new guy who is beneath her socially but turns out to be a great guy once the shallow girl can see past social hierarchy
-the message that a girl must have a boyfriend (what's wrong with her being alone for a while? Why the new guy when it doesn't work out with the boyfriend? Very eye roll worthy)
-finally, the main character's transformation from shallow brainless horrible person to remorseful redeemable person being too little, too late