A review by crowinator
The Burning by Laura Bates

3.0

This debut from the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project is a solid, emotionally-charged read about double standards, sexual harassment, cyber bullying, and social media's pervasive influence, with an reasonable though obvious parallel between contemporary high school mob mentality and seventeenth century witchcraft trials. It was a difficult but cathartic read and really made clear the emotional trauma girls (and their friends and families) can experience from such sustained targeted bullying online and at school. I'd never been bulled like this as a young adult (being an Old like I am, social media wasn't such a big thing, though I remember some IRC rooms that could get uncomfortable) but it was all too easy to put myself in Anna's shoes. The mild supernatural element didn't fit in with the rest of the book, though; I wish it had been left out. That kind of mix of magical dream-states and realism can be done well, but it missed the mark here.