Asking For It

Hands down the most brutal and honest look at teenage rape in our modern era of social media. Louise O'Neill does a great job bringing Emma to life, she's flawed and she's bitchy but was she really asking for it? Leading up to "the night," Emma is the most beloved, admired, and beautiful girl in her grade. She always turns heads and she can have any boy she wants. The night of the rape(s) becomes a turning point, the boys didn't mean it, they were her friends, but then the pictures showed up online and all her friends turn against. She shouldn't have been wearing that outfit. She shouldn't have drank that much. She shouldn't have been such a flirt. She becomes shamed and ostracized, she's ruining these poor boy's lives. The hate never ends and all she wants to do is disappear. The story is not sugar coated and the ending pulls a massive punch. So often we gloss over sexual violence, side with the young accused men, and shame the girls, but in literature there is somehow always a happy ending. This young adult novel tells the real heart-wrenching story.