The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed
Published by: Simon Pulse on October 10th, 2017
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Feminism
Pages: 416
Format: ARC
Source: Kindly given by Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review
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Summary (from Goodreads): 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.
Who are the Nowhere Girls?
They’re everygirl. But they start with just three:
Grace Salter is the new girl in town, whose family was run out of their former community after her southern Baptist preacher mom turned into a radical liberal after falling off a horse and bumping her head.
Rosina Suarez is the queer punk girl in a conservative Mexican immigrant family, who dreams of a life playing music instead of babysitting her gaggle of cousins and waitressing at her uncle’s restaurant.
Erin Delillo is obsessed with two things: marine biology and Star Trek: The Next Generation, but they aren’t enough to distract her from her suspicion that she may in fact be an android.
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.
Review: When this book showed up in my mailbox I couldn’t wait to start reading it. The subject matter is a topic that is so prevalent now and it is such a shame. All these girls come from different backgrounds and living situations. There is Grace the new girl who moves in to the house of the girl who accused a man of raping her and the town shunned her for it. Grace finds messages and wants to get to the truth and she really wants justice for her. Erin was an interesting character to read about because she has Asperger’s. You got to see how she viewed the current situation from her perspective and how she deals with daily life. And Rosina who does everything for her family and tries to just do the right thing all the time. The three of them together really showed a great friendship.
I liked how this book showed different characters all forming a group and starting a movement showing support for everyone (well almost everyone) in the group. What I didn’t like were the black pages in the book that was the blog of “The Real Men of Prescott”. I hated reading those chapters as everything written in it was just disgusting. It was unnecessary and a few snippets/quotes mentioned would’ve been enough. Even though there were things that I didn’t like I can’t not give this book 5/5 stars.
Powerful book with a message that I think all young readers should read.
*This book was given to me by Simon and Schuster in exchange for an honest review*
Rating:
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I’m really interested in reading this book, especially because of the character with Asperger’s Syndrome, but unfortunately the library closest to me doesn’t have a copy. I guess I’m going to have to wait a little longer. Have you read the memoir “Lucky” by Alice Sebold? It was extremely eye-opening and made me think about how hard is it for rape victims to successfully press charges against their assailants. I highly recommend it, I think both “Lucky” and her first novel “The Lovely Bones” are outstanding.
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