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A review by katykelly
Asking For It by Louise O'Neill
5.0
A Mean Girl's story... How would you feel if the popular but not-very-nice girl had something pretty horrific happen to her?
O'Neill's debut - Only Ever Yours - was one of the most stunningly original and powerful Young Adult books I've ever read. I can see the continuing theme of women, power and powerlessness carried on in her second book, which is just as thought-provoking (and might I say a huge 'well done' to the creator of the covers of both, just perfect , and beautifully co-ordinated).
Set in Ireland, Emma O'Donovan is beautiful, popular and doing well in the months before her exams. We can see she's perhaps not the nicest of people - cruel to her 'friends', a tease with boys, worshipped at home and school, she's top of the pile. Until one party...
Unable to remember anything the next morning, social media tells the story all too clearly. Or does it?
The novel tells the tale of Emma's plummet from the heights of popularity, we see the reactions around her as family, school, the media take sides. What did she do? Was it her fault? And what SHOULD she do?
Do we want to gloat that the mean b!t@h got taken down a peg? Is it that simple? Emma's perspective shows us it really isn't.
Emma is a very well-drawn character. You have little sympathy for her at the start, though the way males around her treat girls, and how she deals with this began to soften my feelings. Post-party, there's a huge shift in loyalties and sympathies, and Emma represents more than just one accuser, she is all teenage girls and women who have to fight for their rights against their community feelings, the media, who see what they want to see.
Deliberately vague? Sorry, it's a better read if you go into it not knowing what happens.
This isn't a book you 'enjoy' but it is one you won't forget, one you'll race to the end of to find out what happens. With Only Ever Yours I felt shocked and so, so sad at the end. Asking For It dredged up similar feelings, though Emma's story is not at an end.
O'Neill seems determined to make a point about young women. I would suggest that this is a book (alongside its predecessor) that is used in GCSE (or A-Level) classes to stimulate discussion with both genders - I want boys to think about how they treat girls, and girls to consider how they expect to be treated and why.
To say this 'makes a good point' is an understatement. It's powerful, explicit on more than one occasion (parental advisory: not for primary-aged readers) and very, very important.
Review of a Lovereading.co.uk advance copy.
O'Neill's debut - Only Ever Yours - was one of the most stunningly original and powerful Young Adult books I've ever read. I can see the continuing theme of women, power and powerlessness carried on in her second book, which is just as thought-provoking (and might I say a huge 'well done' to the creator of the covers of both, just perfect , and beautifully co-ordinated).
Set in Ireland, Emma O'Donovan is beautiful, popular and doing well in the months before her exams. We can see she's perhaps not the nicest of people - cruel to her 'friends', a tease with boys, worshipped at home and school, she's top of the pile. Until one party...
Unable to remember anything the next morning, social media tells the story all too clearly. Or does it?
The novel tells the tale of Emma's plummet from the heights of popularity, we see the reactions around her as family, school, the media take sides. What did she do? Was it her fault? And what SHOULD she do?
Do we want to gloat that the mean b!t@h got taken down a peg? Is it that simple? Emma's perspective shows us it really isn't.
Emma is a very well-drawn character. You have little sympathy for her at the start, though the way males around her treat girls, and how she deals with this began to soften my feelings. Post-party, there's a huge shift in loyalties and sympathies, and Emma represents more than just one accuser, she is all teenage girls and women who have to fight for their rights against their community feelings, the media, who see what they want to see.
Deliberately vague? Sorry, it's a better read if you go into it not knowing what happens.
This isn't a book you 'enjoy' but it is one you won't forget, one you'll race to the end of to find out what happens. With Only Ever Yours I felt shocked and so, so sad at the end. Asking For It dredged up similar feelings, though Emma's story is not at an end.
O'Neill seems determined to make a point about young women. I would suggest that this is a book (alongside its predecessor) that is used in GCSE (or A-Level) classes to stimulate discussion with both genders - I want boys to think about how they treat girls, and girls to consider how they expect to be treated and why.
To say this 'makes a good point' is an understatement. It's powerful, explicit on more than one occasion (parental advisory: not for primary-aged readers) and very, very important.
Review of a Lovereading.co.uk advance copy.