All the Rage by Courtney Summers Published by St. Martin's Griffin
Published: April 14th 2015
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The sheriff's son, Kellan Turner, is not the golden boy everyone thinks he is, and Romy Grey knows that for a fact. Because no one wants to believe a girl from the wrong side of town, the truth about him has cost her everything-friends, family, and her community. Branded a liar and bullied relentlessly by a group of kids she used to hang out with, Romy's only refuge is the diner where she works outside of town. No one knows her name or her past there; she can finally be anonymous. But when a girl with ties to both Romy and Kellan goes missing after a party, and news of him assaulting another girl in a town close by gets out, Romy must decide whether she wants to fight or carry the burden of knowing more girls could get hurt if she doesn't speak up. Nobody believed her the first time-and they certainly won't now-but the cost of her silence might be more than she can bear.
With a shocking conclusion and writing that will absolutely knock you out, All the Rage examines the shame and silence inflicted upon young women in a culture that refuses to protect them.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Courtney Summers has a way about her story telling that can easily pull you in and trample your heart while also being really truthful about the subject matter. It was the case with Some Girls Are, Cracked Up to Be and Fall for Anything. She didn’t mince words are try to “dumb” down a hard topic just because it is geared towards a younger audience. So when I saw she was writing a book like All the Rage and I was so excited to see what she would do with it. And although I struggled with this one at times, it wasn’t the characters or the story or the writing, it was me being faced with something a lot of girls deal with with Courtney telling it in a very real, very raw way.
All the Rage is about Romy, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks in a small town that is raped by the town golden boy and no one will believe her. Instead Romy is bullied and branded a liar. Her friends turn against her, the town turns against her. Needing to get out Romy finds a job at a diner in a different town where no one knows her and her story. She has a place there and is happy, maybe even falling in love. But when her worlds collide and she finds out that she may not be the only victim Romy must decide if staying quiet is worth it.
I’m not going to lie, I was a little confused with how the story was being told at the beginning and it was kind of turning me off. Romy has a lot of trouble focusing on thoughts and saying things in sentences and that made me struggle. I wasn’t sure I would be able to read a story like that. But as I continued on with the book I actually saw the beauty in it. Romy was a girl that lost her voice. She had her right to tell the truth of what happened to her taken away. Because of that moment she was scared to say what she was thinking, what she felt, the truth. Instead she stuttered and lied and said what she thought people would want to hear. When I let that settle in I saw the absolute beauty of it. And I saw the pain Romy was truly in. While she looked healed she was far from it which broke me.
I also enjoyed the story that helped break Romy out of her fear of speaking up and not being afraid of someone because of their wealth or connection. I don’t want to say too much as it is another aspect of the book that is important and goes along with the culture of this community, but it is very very poignant and was done in a beautiful way.
In the end All the Rage was a typical Summers’ masterpiece. She didn’t skirt around the edges. She hit the hard stuff right on the head with a sledgehammer and didn’t let up. She showed really what a “boys will be boys” kind of mentality and do to a person and the community and why it is so hard for victims of abuse and rape to actually speak up. She gave Romy a voice and hopefully by doing that gave a voice to other girls in the same situation.
About Courtney Summers
Courtney Summers lives and writes in Canada, where she divides most of her time between a camera, a piano and a word processing program. She is also the author of What Goes Around, This is Not a Test, Fall for Anything, Some Girls Are, Cracked Up to Be, and Please Remain Calm.
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What angers me is all of the expectations! Be pretty, be intelligent, be kind. None of those are BAD things but it’s so annoying when women and girls are expected to be them all the time and if you’re NOT one of them, you’re like less than basically. I’m also so annoyed about society in general because again, EXPECTATIONS, and girls put expectations on themselves to look like celebrities or models and always compare themselves and comparing sucks! I speak from experience so many girls and women don’t compare themselves to celebrities as much as I do, but it sucks. I also hate gossip.
Oh, god, so much. What it comes down to is the pressure to be perfect, in control, always on, at all times. We need to tell our girls that it’s okay to be you, that you’re enough the way you are.
I. CAN’T. WAIT. FOR. THIS.
I think being shamed and bullied because you’re different, because you don’t conform, and being shamed and bullied in a public way is the hardest thing to face now. For girls and boys.
I have a CAnadian address but rafflecopter might show my location outside CAnada because I’m doing a semester abroad
LOVELY review!!!!!
thank you so very much!! 🙂
What angers me are exams! Hate them, but a necessity haha.
I’m really looking forward to this book. After reading the synopsis, it sounds really intriguing. Thank you for this amazing chance! 🙂
I hate that there are still so many assumptions based on being a girl instead of a boy. A blogging friend just tweeted about how people assume she’s going to be a nurse since she’s in med school, but they’d never assume a man would be a nurse.
The stress on society’s “ideal” body image! Being held up to such a high unrealistic standard is wrong.
What angers me most is the pressure that they feel to look a certain way.
Body shaming angers me.