Post by kahlan on Feb 26, 2017 14:32:46 GMT
Winner of the Irish Book Awards 2015
I received this book as part of the Amazon Vine review program - review follows below.
I gave it 5 stars.
Louise O'Neill has tackled a taboo subject head-on, making no attempt to dress it up as anything other than what it is - rape. This in itself makes the book worth reading as it is a weighty subject that needs to be considered. However, it is in particular the way in which O'Neill has dealt with the subject in all its raw brutality that makes this book such a masterpiece.
The one thing I would advise if you are starting out with this book is persevere. In the beginning it can seem a little trivial. We meet a plethora of characters all at once, mostly teenage boys and girls, but some parents too, and it is difficult to keep track of who each is, what their background is, what their connection with Emma the protagonist is, who is dating whom and so on. Couple this with the somewhat banal teenage conversations over latest infatuations and gossip, and the book can seem slow and superficial at the beginning.
But, persevere, because it is all about to change. (Some spoilers follow although I have tried not to give too much away).
Emma goes to a party and what happens there amounts to date rape (although the definition of rape is questioned by many in the book). Emma will never be the same after that party, nor will her friends or her family. O'Neill has been particularly clever in her portrayal of Emma. The temptation is to create a sweet and innocent girl who is abused by villains; however, the Emma we meet in the beginning is anything but sweet and innocent. She is beautiful but often very cutting in her dealings with her so-called friends and she is sexually active. She has no qualms about bitchy behaviour or about stealing from her friends (both material goods and boyfriends). In short, there is much to dislike about Emma; she is not the typical innocent victim. And so when the rape happens, there are the inevitable questions of whether she deserved it, whether she led the boys on, whether she consented, since her past behaviour involving drink, drugs and sex has brought her morals into question. In presenting Emma in this way, O'Neill challenges all those who would question whether a rape took place purely because of the reputation of the girl in question, and this is a brave and commendable stance.
The book is not a cheerful one - it deals with an unpleasant subject which most would no doubt prefer to ignore. And this is not just the rape, but also its aftermath. Emma has to decide whether to go to trial and thus relive in public her ordeal. The media runs with her story over and over and she finds herself unable to face people or even leave her house to go to school. Even her family seem to doubt her story at times (and, my goodness, did I come to hate Emma's mother!) and her world becomes smaller and more oppressive as she refuses to see anyone at all, even those who would support her. She is changed by her experience and fixates on details around it (O'Neill conveys this brilliantly by having Emma fixate on and repeat certain words to do with the rape over and over).
And as if dealing with the topic of rape isn't enough, O'Neill places it firmly in the modern context by showing how damaging social media can be. Emma's story is spread and discussed with a brutal viciousness over and over on sites such as Facebook, and this means that she can never escape or move on from her ordeal.
I don't think I can do justice to this powerful book. The plot may be simple in a way (basically it's a rape and its aftermath) but the heavy and oppressive atmosphere created throughout the book is palpable, the characters are credible, and the ending is realistic in its refusal to offer a solution - after all, how often in real life is a story brought to a neat end? Fantastic work from Ms O'Neill.
I received this book as part of the Amazon Vine review program - review follows below.
I gave it 5 stars.
Louise O'Neill has tackled a taboo subject head-on, making no attempt to dress it up as anything other than what it is - rape. This in itself makes the book worth reading as it is a weighty subject that needs to be considered. However, it is in particular the way in which O'Neill has dealt with the subject in all its raw brutality that makes this book such a masterpiece.
The one thing I would advise if you are starting out with this book is persevere. In the beginning it can seem a little trivial. We meet a plethora of characters all at once, mostly teenage boys and girls, but some parents too, and it is difficult to keep track of who each is, what their background is, what their connection with Emma the protagonist is, who is dating whom and so on. Couple this with the somewhat banal teenage conversations over latest infatuations and gossip, and the book can seem slow and superficial at the beginning.
But, persevere, because it is all about to change. (Some spoilers follow although I have tried not to give too much away).
Emma goes to a party and what happens there amounts to date rape (although the definition of rape is questioned by many in the book). Emma will never be the same after that party, nor will her friends or her family. O'Neill has been particularly clever in her portrayal of Emma. The temptation is to create a sweet and innocent girl who is abused by villains; however, the Emma we meet in the beginning is anything but sweet and innocent. She is beautiful but often very cutting in her dealings with her so-called friends and she is sexually active. She has no qualms about bitchy behaviour or about stealing from her friends (both material goods and boyfriends). In short, there is much to dislike about Emma; she is not the typical innocent victim. And so when the rape happens, there are the inevitable questions of whether she deserved it, whether she led the boys on, whether she consented, since her past behaviour involving drink, drugs and sex has brought her morals into question. In presenting Emma in this way, O'Neill challenges all those who would question whether a rape took place purely because of the reputation of the girl in question, and this is a brave and commendable stance.
The book is not a cheerful one - it deals with an unpleasant subject which most would no doubt prefer to ignore. And this is not just the rape, but also its aftermath. Emma has to decide whether to go to trial and thus relive in public her ordeal. The media runs with her story over and over and she finds herself unable to face people or even leave her house to go to school. Even her family seem to doubt her story at times (and, my goodness, did I come to hate Emma's mother!) and her world becomes smaller and more oppressive as she refuses to see anyone at all, even those who would support her. She is changed by her experience and fixates on details around it (O'Neill conveys this brilliantly by having Emma fixate on and repeat certain words to do with the rape over and over).
And as if dealing with the topic of rape isn't enough, O'Neill places it firmly in the modern context by showing how damaging social media can be. Emma's story is spread and discussed with a brutal viciousness over and over on sites such as Facebook, and this means that she can never escape or move on from her ordeal.
I don't think I can do justice to this powerful book. The plot may be simple in a way (basically it's a rape and its aftermath) but the heavy and oppressive atmosphere created throughout the book is palpable, the characters are credible, and the ending is realistic in its refusal to offer a solution - after all, how often in real life is a story brought to a neat end? Fantastic work from Ms O'Neill.
