Title: The Nowhere Girls
Author: Amy Reed
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release date: October 2017
Genre: YA contemporary
Rating: ★★★★✩
Sometimes you read a synopsis from a book and you already now that it’s gonna be a very good story. I had that feeling from the moment I heard of The Nowhere Girls written by Amy Reed.
Three misfits come together to avenge the rape of a fellow classmate and in the process trigger a change in the misogynist culture at their high school transforming the lives of everyone around them in this searing and timely story.
When Grace learns that Lucy Moynihan, the former occupant of her new home, was run out of town for having accused the popular guys at school of gang rape, she’s incensed that Lucy never had justice. For their own personal reasons, Rosina and Erin feel equally deeply about Lucy’s tragedy, so they form an anonymous group of girls at Prescott High to resist the sexist culture at their school, which includes boycotting sex of any kind with the male students.
Told in alternating perspectives, this groundbreaking novel is an indictment of rape culture and explores with bold honesty the deepest questions about teen girls and sexuality.
Story
Really this book discussed so many important topics like feminism, rape, sexual assault, victim blaming, racism and a lot more. Especially now with the #metoo campaign trending on Twitter in the last few months, I think books like these are even more important!
Characters
We follow three girls. One of them is Grace, who is the new fat Christian girl. Her faith plays a pretty huge role in her life since her mother is a pastor. One of the other girls named Rosina is from a Mexican family. Rosina is also interested in women. Erin is the final core member of The Nowhere Girls. She has Aspberger’s and is dealing with anxiety.
Writing
We’re focusing on different people. For a large part, it focuses on Erin, Rosina, and Grace, three girls who become unlikely friends and founders of The Nowhere Girls. Although I’m a big fan of following more characters, it’s also a little confusing at the beginning when you’re not familiar with the characters yet. Luckily this was not an issue in The Nowhere Girls. What I also liked where the short chapters. For me that always ensures me to read one more chapter and before I even know it, I finished the whole book! The other chapters are ‘Us’ which follows many girls, switching between and sometimes not even naming them. It may be them during sexual encounters or just their thought process. I really found these chapters a powerful addition to the book.
Conclusion
I’m really happy I’ve read this story. At first I thought that it was very important but it was maybe a little bit extravagant. But when I thought about it a little more I realised this is exactly what happend with all the women that came forward in the #MeToo campaign. They were also told to keep their mouth shut because no one would believe them above the powerful men in the industry. Overall, this is one of the most powerful books of 2017 in my opinion and definitely an important book that touches on the rape culture of our world. I really encourage you to read this one!