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romcm's review
5.0
I probably shouldn’t have read this. Nightmare material. Young people need supervision.
cupkate147's review
5.0
the only terrible thing about this book is that it's a true story: the viciousness of the bullying is awful to imagine as anything but fiction.
I read this in almost a single sitting, which is rare for me, because I have the attention span of a goldfish. it's so compelling! it's easy as adults to dismiss the complexity of relationships that are formed between teen girls, but this book captures the intensity and almost desperate addiction to approval from peers as a teenager. it's also a great demonstration of how poorly prepared, tired, or overwhelmed some teachers can be for these sort of situations. I'm sure the rural campus seems like a great idea for schools, but throwing a bunch of 14yo's in the bush and expecting them to become autonomous responsible adults is so wide-eyed and innocent: how did they not predict a bit of Lord of the Flies, even s little bit?!?
really great book. awesome. highly recommend.
I read this in almost a single sitting, which is rare for me, because I have the attention span of a goldfish. it's so compelling! it's easy as adults to dismiss the complexity of relationships that are formed between teen girls, but this book captures the intensity and almost desperate addiction to approval from peers as a teenager. it's also a great demonstration of how poorly prepared, tired, or overwhelmed some teachers can be for these sort of situations. I'm sure the rural campus seems like a great idea for schools, but throwing a bunch of 14yo's in the bush and expecting them to become autonomous responsible adults is so wide-eyed and innocent: how did they not predict a bit of Lord of the Flies, even s little bit?!?
really great book. awesome. highly recommend.
hannah_book's review
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Homophobia
kellytsak's review
3.0
Bad behaviour is a book about exactly that, the desperate desire to fit in at any cost, no matter the price because acceptance for teenage girls is the holy grail, only second behind being the 'most popular'. I can relate to this book but not as the writer, I was one of those girls who was picked on, laughed at, humiliated and made to feel worthless. This book brought back emotions of being at high school again, not something I would ever want to relive, so if that was the aim, it suceeded. I wish this book had pointed out more that high school is just a small fraction of life and shouldnt be dwelt upon. All I wanted when reading this book was for it to end, she was neither victim or bully but some weird hybrid who chose to be weak every so often. However the book is well written, flows nicely and is reasonably short, it is not something I would have purchased for myself but have felt richer for reading.
I would like to thank The Reading Room and the publisher for my free advanced reading copy.
I would like to thank The Reading Room and the publisher for my free advanced reading copy.
liralen's review
4.0
Fascinating. Bad Behaviour covers Starford's year in an exclusive alternative boarding school in Australia. This was not prep school in the classic sense: students lived together in small groups with minimal supervision, were required to do long runs and hikes (culminating in week-long hikes and a full marathon at the end of the year), and had no phone or computer access on campus. If anything, it feels more like Deep Springs College than like Eton. (Can somebody please write a memoir about Deep Springs? I really want to read it.)
When the year began, Starford thought she'd lucked out on the friend front: the most powerful girl in the dorm took a liking to her. Together they and their friends reigned terror over the rest of the dorm and, sometimes, the rest of the campus. And then the other girl lost interest, and Starford found herself fighting to get back in her good graces. Sometimes the tormenter and sometimes the tormented.
The book is all the more complicated because Starford wasn't solely a victim. Sometimes she portrays herself as hurt and desperate, and sometimes she portrays herself as willing to knock down anyone in her path to stay on top. It's all rather [b:Lord of the Flies|7624|Lord of the Flies|William Golding|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327869409s/7624.jpg|2766512], or (perhaps a better comp for the boarding-school factor) [b:Cracks|1009140|Cracks|Sheila Kohler|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1361670529s/1009140.jpg|2725986].
I'm less interested in the contemporary story, Starford's coming out and and navigating the shame and hurt she still feels from Silver Creek, but I can see why it's there. The whole thing is messy. Complicated. In a fictional version, we'd know a little more about where the other girls went after their time at Silver Creek, about who they grew up to be, but of course real life isn't always that tidy.
I always like seeing a boarding-school book that doesn't match the standard narrative, and this certainly fit the bill.
When the year began, Starford thought she'd lucked out on the friend front: the most powerful girl in the dorm took a liking to her. Together they and their friends reigned terror over the rest of the dorm and, sometimes, the rest of the campus. And then the other girl lost interest, and Starford found herself fighting to get back in her good graces. Sometimes the tormenter and sometimes the tormented.
The book is all the more complicated because Starford wasn't solely a victim. Sometimes she portrays herself as hurt and desperate, and sometimes she portrays herself as willing to knock down anyone in her path to stay on top. It's all rather [b:Lord of the Flies|7624|Lord of the Flies|William Golding|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327869409s/7624.jpg|2766512], or (perhaps a better comp for the boarding-school factor) [b:Cracks|1009140|Cracks|Sheila Kohler|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1361670529s/1009140.jpg|2725986].
I'm less interested in the contemporary story, Starford's coming out and and navigating the shame and hurt she still feels from Silver Creek, but I can see why it's there. The whole thing is messy. Complicated. In a fictional version, we'd know a little more about where the other girls went after their time at Silver Creek, about who they grew up to be, but of course real life isn't always that tidy.
I always like seeing a boarding-school book that doesn't match the standard narrative, and this certainly fit the bill.
vickiireads's review
4.0
Bec’s year spent at the renowned Silver Creek boarding school will be one that follows her for the rest of her life. After accepting a scholarship, the fourteen year-old is sent out to the Victorian Alps to live in close confines with 15 other girls, where they are encouraged to partake in hikes, cross country races and camping in between their classes. But it’s not just the physical demands that start to take its toll on these young girls; the mental games and verbal abuse that these teenagers inflict on each other on a day-to-day basis are something you’d only see in an episode of Puberty Blues. From small shenanigans like disobeying teachers, to name calling, stealing, and outright bullying which leads to self-harm in some stories, the brutality of these actions seems of little concern to the main instigator, Portia. Bec is quick to become apart of the ever-changing pecking order of the Red House, as she discovers it is survival of the fittest, but how far is she willing to go in order to fit in?
A powerfully thought-provoking memoir, Bad Behaviour outlines one of our biggest social problems – bullying; how we treat others as well as ourselves, and demonstrates how Bec conquered her own moral demons in order to move on with her life.
A powerfully thought-provoking memoir, Bad Behaviour outlines one of our biggest social problems – bullying; how we treat others as well as ourselves, and demonstrates how Bec conquered her own moral demons in order to move on with her life.