The Rosie Effect« an older post
a newer one »The Redeemer

Some Girls Are

Book Notes

And my pile of to-read books just dropped by one! So much for reading "only" double of my original 2015 goal of one book a week. Go for 52, hit 105.

I picked up this book after reading the Book Riot article about how a single parent managed to ban a book without going through a review process. The banned book was Some Girls Are, about bullying in high school and a bully who has fallen from grace, and is now on the receiving end of the actions she inflicted upon others.

As I was trying not to spend money on books (a near impossible task), I tried to get it from my library. No go.

I asked Mom to try her library. No go.

Eventually, on a night of drinking too much whiskey, where "too much" is defined as "more than one shot," I hit the buy button on all the books in my Amazon cart, and ended up with a stack of 24 books to read. Including this one.

I read it last night.

I will fully admit that if I were the mother of a kid in high school today, I would struggle to believe this kind of behaviour exists, that my child would be doing it, or that people so young can be so ugly in their actions. Which is not to say on an intellectual basis, I dispute this behaviour exists, I totally believe it exists. I just don't WANT it to exist.

I was an oblivious kid in school. I also went to a really big high school. I also went to a really big high school where most of the kids did NOT grow up with each other. All of these factors meant I was unaware if any of this was happening in my school, much less experience it. I am really sad that such behaviour could exist, and somewhat enraged that, rather than say, hey, this exists, maybe we should reflect on it and, as difficult as the book is to read and the ideas to consider, let's do just that, the mother stuck her head in the sand and forced the book to be banned.

The book itself is an easy read. The ideas in the book, rape, bullying, tormenting, death, are not easy. And that's what makes the book worth reading.

Highly recommended to read and think about.

I have a copy available for friends to pass along.

Add new comment