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A review by maida
Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake
5.0
”Even girls made of stars are captives, bound at the wrists and traded like property. Even girls made of stars aren't asked, aren't believed, aren't considered worth the effort unless they can offer something in return.
Even girls made of stars buy into those lies sometimes”.
Every couple of years I encounter a book that both makes me sob through every single page but also afterwards. A book that doesn’t let me sleep until I’ve finished it, because not finishing it in one sitting could actually kill me. The last book that made me feel like this was We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson, back in 2017.
And now Girl Made of Stars did it for me.
This might be a bit TMI, but recently one of my friends (ex-friend now, I guess) was accused of sexual assault by a girl I used to be really close friends with. And it broke me, because of course I believed her, but it also meant that this “safe” space I had meticulously built for myself was officially corrupted. It’s always been very difficult for me to make friends, so let’s say I was, I am, heartbroken.
I believe the books we enjoy the most come at the right exact time, when we need them. I loved seeing the exploration of Mara’s grief about her twin raping one of her best friends. Seeing trying to convince herself that maybe, just maybe, everything was fine, was one of the saddest yet realistic things that could’ve happened. And I felt it, right in my cold-ass heart.
With that said, this book was hard to read. Not because it was badly written or anything, but I just couldn’t stop crying. When I wasn’t crying about the main storyline, I was crying about Mara thinking she wasn’t enough, thinking no one would believe her, her trying to deal with trauma on her own.
I think it’s a bit shallow to discuss romantic relationships considering the subject matter is this dark, but still, the one thing that irked me about this book was Mara’s relationship with Charlie. I like that they relay on each other, but my god they were so toxic most of the time. That turned out okay in the end, I guess.
Is this my new favorite book of all time? Probably- wait, actually, more than likely.
Pre-review
after pulling an all-nighter and sobbing my eyes out for the past four hours I can say that without a doubt this is my new favorite book of all time.
1. A book that was nominated for or won an award in a genre you enjoy
Even girls made of stars buy into those lies sometimes”.
Every couple of years I encounter a book that both makes me sob through every single page but also afterwards. A book that doesn’t let me sleep until I’ve finished it, because not finishing it in one sitting could actually kill me. The last book that made me feel like this was We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson, back in 2017.
And now Girl Made of Stars did it for me.
This might be a bit TMI, but recently one of my friends (ex-friend now, I guess) was accused of sexual assault by a girl I used to be really close friends with. And it broke me, because of course I believed her, but it also meant that this “safe” space I had meticulously built for myself was officially corrupted. It’s always been very difficult for me to make friends, so let’s say I was, I am, heartbroken.
I believe the books we enjoy the most come at the right exact time, when we need them. I loved seeing the exploration of Mara’s grief about her twin raping one of her best friends. Seeing trying to convince herself that maybe, just maybe, everything was fine, was one of the saddest yet realistic things that could’ve happened. And I felt it, right in my cold-ass heart.
With that said, this book was hard to read. Not because it was badly written or anything, but I just couldn’t stop crying. When I wasn’t crying about the main storyline, I was crying about Mara thinking she wasn’t enough, thinking no one would believe her, her trying to deal with trauma on her own.
I think it’s a bit shallow to discuss romantic relationships considering the subject matter is this dark, but still, the one thing that irked me about this book was Mara’s relationship with Charlie. I like that they relay on each other, but my god they were so toxic most of the time. That turned out okay in the end, I guess.
Is this my new favorite book of all time? Probably- wait, actually, more than likely.
Pre-review
after pulling an all-nighter and sobbing my eyes out for the past four hours I can say that without a doubt this is my new favorite book of all time.
1. A book that was nominated for or won an award in a genre you enjoy