Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Some Girls Are, by Courtney Summers


Regina has enjoyed being part of Anna's top clique. Sure, it's involved plenty of dirty work -- helping Anna ruin the lives of other kids -- but it gave her a place to belong. Regina may have felt uncomfortable doing what she did, but she was always too afraid to challenge the order of things.
But when Regina is nearly raped at a party by Anna's boyfriend, Anna is convinced that it was really the other way around and she turns on Regina. Soon, Regina finds out what it is like to be on the receiving end of Anna's wrath. Pranks and taunts turn to abuse and violence, spinning very definitely out of control. Adults prove ineffectual and the situation escalates. In the midst of it all, Regina finds some solace with one of her former victims -- a loner named Michael.


Harrowing, disturbing, and mildly exploitative, the book sucks you in and leaves you madly digesting every page. In fact, I found it a bit sick just how interested I got. After all, what joy is there in reading a story about kids doing horrible things to each other? My guess would be that you would enjoy this if you had never been a victim of bullying before. But for the rest of us, this just hits a bit too close to home. So, I wouldn't decsribe the book as fun reading.

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