Summary:Climbing to the top of the social ladder is hard—falling from it is even harder. Regina Afton used to be a member of the Fearsome Fivesome, an all-girl clique both feared and revered by the students at Hallowell High... until vicious rumors about her and her best friend's boyfriend start going around. Now Regina's been "frozen out" and her ex-best friends are out for revenge. If Regina was guilty, it would be one thing, but the rumors are far from the terrifying truth and the bullying is getting more intense by the day. She takes solace in the company of Michael Hayden, a misfit with a tragic past who she herself used to bully. Friendship doesn't come easily for these onetime enemies, and as Regina works hard to make amends for her past, she realizes Michael could be more than just a friend... if threats from the Fearsome Foursome don't break them both first.
Tensions grow and the abuse worsens as the final days of senior year march toward an explosive conclusion in this dark new tale from the author of Cracked Up To Be. (from GoodReads)
Review:Wow! This novel was so crazy. It was difficult to read because of the content, but at the same time I couldn't put it down. Some Girls Are makes you look at high school a lot differently.
Some Girls Are details bullying in one of its most extreme forms. The popular crowd, known as the "Fearsome Fivesome," engages in humiliation, isolation, cyber bullying and various types of physical and emotional abuse. This mistreatment isn't just limited to the normal student body: if one of the members has a falling out with the group, they are also subject to this torture. It's truly horrible and you can't help feeling bad for Regina, even though she did the same awful things beforehand.
It's hard for me to comprehend how people are able to go through their day spreading rumors, locking others in supply closets and pushing them into lockers. It takes a lot of time and energy for these wars, not to mention some creative manipulation. Is the average high school girl clever enough for the schemes that Courtney Summers outlines? I'm not quite sure. Also, how prevalent is this type of bullying? I must have had an exceptionally good high school because none of this ever happened. I'm not saying there wasn't bullying, but these all-out offensives against one person in which most of the school either participates or knows about? That didn't happen. Most of the bullying I saw was people being left out or teasing. Maybe I was just naïve.
Even though most of the characters acted like sociopaths, Some Girls Are is very engaging. You want to see Regina win and watch how her relationship with Michael develops. There were some interesting twists that will keep you on your toes. Unfortunately, the book kind of just ends. I wish there was more resolution than what we got. I liked the book, but obviously didn't at the same since I'm not really a fan of seeing people be constantly bullied.
Rating: 7 out of 10.
FTC: borrowed from the library
2010/St. Martin's Griffin/246 pages
1 comment:
We love Courtney Summers and the bravery with which she writes her difficult ("unlikable") characters.
But yeah, like you, this is not the kind of bullying we saw. It's so... orchestrated. Doesn't mean it doesn't exist, of course. But hopefully it's not the norm.
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