Alina Klein - Rape Girl
• Pub Date: August 1, 2012
• Publisher: namelos
• Format: Hardcover, 132 pages
• Age Range: Young Adult
• Source: Net Galley
Valerie always wanted to be the smart girl. The pretty girl. The popular girl.
But not the rape girl.
That’s who she is now. Rape Girl. Because everyone seems to think they know the truth about what happened with Adam that day, and they don’t think Valerie’s telling it.
Before, she had a best friend, a crush, and a close-knit family. After, she has a court case, a support group, and a house full of strangers.
The real truth is, nothing will ever be the same.
Rape Girl is the compelling story of a survivor who does the right thing and suffers for it. It is also the story of a young woman’s struggle to find the strength to fight back.
I almost feel guilty for not liking this very much, given the subject matter and all, but there was a lot wrong with it. I just couldn't get past the lack of character development. Everyone seemed so flat to me. And the pacing was totally off. There were times when too much time would pass between paragraphs that I had to go back and read a passage or two to figure out the jump in time. I'm not saying that this book had time travel. It was just hard to keep up with how much time had passed paragraph to paragraph. This book jumps from before to after, though that is clearly identified. It's really only from paragraph to paragraph that time speeds up too fast.
It's easy to feel awful for the MC, Valerie. You know what happens to her. That's a terrible thing to experience. But this book is way too short to develop the way a story about rape should. Too many details are rushed, and too many details didn't matter much throughout the novel. Obviously, this is an ARC, so maybe some things will change before final copies are printed, but I'm reviewing the ARC. And it needs editing. Bad.
Bottom line: Not recommended.
Rating:
2/5 book sharks
I kind of agree with you on this. While there were some really good things about the story, it felt very flat. And while I couldn't quite put the finger on it as I was reviewing, you have named those things that I was feeling. I think the storyline kind of blinded me a bit to why I didn't like it as much, I thought maybe it was just the topic itself. You can see my review here.
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