Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers is like Mean Girls, only not funny at all. I’m not sure what took me so long to hop aboard the Courtney Summers love train, but damn girl can pen a book. Some Girls Are is an intricate look at bullying, victim blaming, and cliques. Regina is part of the mean girls clique. Rude, and a bully to others, she rules the high school with her queen bee best friend, Anna. Until one day, all of that changes. When Regina is sexually assaulted by Anna’s boyfriend, instead of blaming the perpetrator, everyone blames Regina and she is turned into a social pariah.
My heart hurts just writing this review. Summers perfectly captures the pain of adolescence and being on the receiving end of bullying. Some Girls Are is gripping. It just begs to be read from beginning to end in a single sitting and will sticking in your conscience for a long time afterwards.
What I like is how complicated this is. Regina is no angel, yet I can’t help but feel sympathy for her. I mean, it’s hard to resist peer pressure. Judge not lest ye be judged. I realize that in the beginning, when Regina was cool, she did some horrid things. And while yeah, she gets her comeuppance, no one deserves what happens to her, no one.
Perhaps the thing that I love most about Some Girls Are is that it shows the pervasive practice of victim blaming. Too often people ask victims why didn’t you do this or say well you should have done that, placing the onus of responsibility on the victim. This pretty much happens to Regina. As a reader, one can’t help but get pissed on her behalf. I like that this stirs up indignation and hope that will carry over into the real life of readers. As we should be supporting victims of assault, instead of turning them into pariahs, blaming them because they dressed a certain way or god forbid, consumed alcohol.
Disclosure: Shanyn sent me this book for my birthday!
Other Reviews:
My Friend Amy
Bookworm1858
Melanie’s Musings
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This is a great review! I will definitely have to pick this one up soon, as I have a copy. Summers’s books all sound amazing.
Liz recently posted..In My Mailbox 22 and What Are You Reading
It is amazing! I have Cracked Up To Be left to be read and can’t wait until Summers writes something else.
Cracked Up to Be is a very good novel!
Yes and yay! I love this book.
Amy @ My Friend Amy recently posted..The Sunday Salon – Bloggiesta Update and Awesome News
High school sure does sound scary in this one. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this book but I feel like I have to prepare myself before I read it.
On another note, yay for getting a book for your birthday. 🙂
Chachic recently posted..End of Bloggiesta Weekend
Well, high school can be very scary. Also getting books certainly trumps getting a sweater, or something else dumb.
ya!
I just read my first Courtney Summers book too (Fall For Anything, which is just brilliant) and now I’m thinking I need to read every word she’s ever written. I’m actually a little scared of this one because I think it’ll be painful to read, but it sounds like I should definitely brave it.
Lauren recently posted..Review- Fall For Anything by Courtney Summers
UM yes, you do need to read everything she’s ever written. I think SGA was more painful to read than FFA, but perhaps that’s because I related to Regina more than Eddie.
I’ve been wanting to read this one for a while now. It sounds like it will be a very moving read. Great review!
GloriousBooks recently posted..Review- Alpha by Rachel Vincent
You should definitely get on reading SGA, it’s SO good!
I loved this book so much. It kind of destroyed me emotionally when I finished. It was so raw, gritty, and, like you said, gripping. I pretty much forced it on one of my blogging partners when we visited a bookstore together. I can’t wait to read Courtney Summers’ new book!
Erin recently posted..Review – Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Some Girls Are definitely destroyed me as well. I felt so bad for Regina, regardless of how mean she was.