A review by emleemay
The Burning by Laura Bates

3.0

Because fire is sneaky. You might think you've extinguished it, but one creeping red tendril, one single wisp of smoke is enough to let it leap back to life again. Especially if someone is watching, waiting to fan the flames.

So many mixed feelings right now.

[b:The Burning|40745002|The Burning|Laura Bates|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1546112121s/40745002.jpg|63410625] is by the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project and, as expected, it has a lot of important things to say about slut-shaming, double standards, bullying, and especially how social media contributes to these. It likens the viciousness of social media trolls to actual witch hunts, leading us on something of a history lesson in the process.

I can't deny that this book had an effect on me. The author captures Anna's fear, shame and frustration as she is confronted with constant double standards. It's also very British, and I related a lot more to the high school culture here than I do when reading American YA. Some parts hit very close to home. I recognized such moments as this one:

I want to stay here, in the quiet, clean darkness, forever until everybody has forgotten that I even exist.

It is hard to look, and yet hard to look away, in parts. I just really wish I didn't have so many issues with it.

The main problem is that this book is messy and doesn't seem to know what it's trying to be (I did read an arc so maybe some things will be tidied up for publication). It touches upon almost every teen girl issue you can think of - slut-shaming, double standards, sexuality, bullying, sexual assault, teen pregnancy, abortion, body-shaming - and is so packed full of "issues" that most of these are left unexplored.

It also has some historical aspects, a bit of a mystery going on, a sort-of romance that seems out of place in the story, and even vaguely supernatural elements that were honestly jarring. There's a bit of everything thrown in, most of it not needed.

Some of the dialogue is a little weird and unnatural, too. The speech at the end, plus the reactions to it, felt unrealistic. And there are times when Anna is directly describing something through speech and I just can't imagine an actual person sat there spewing those metaphors out loud.

Another problem I had is that YA lit has changed a lot in the past few years and some parts of this book already feel a little dated-- most notably when Anna is so shocked to discover Alisha is in love with a girl.

It's a compelling read, though. I could feel my own anxiety spiking when I read about Anna obsessively checking social media. She feels like she shouldn't look, and yet her own imagination is picturing the worst anyway. It's just a shame it's so all over the place. The unexplained supernatural parts of the plot were especially difficult to suspend disbelief for.

"It's worth knowing that sometimes people see you as a symbol of something, instead of a person. And, when they do, it reflects on them, not on you."

CW: Slut-shaming; rape (off-page); homophobic slurs.

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