Do you ever wish you were back in high school? I, for one, have never ever wished for such a thing and reading Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers has only served to reinforce such feelings.
Some Girls Are is about a ruling clique of 5 mean and sadistic high school girls who turn against one of their own. The leader of the clique, Anna, controls the group with an iron fist – from what they all wear (“Skirts and cardigans tomorrow!”) to who they target for their next hate campaign (“Liz is out.”). She never does the dirty work herself but uses one of her admiring brainless minions to carry out the torture.
The unfortunate victim this time is Regina Afton, once and former Anna-BFF and stooge. Regina was the primary minion for carrying out Anna’s terror campaigns against her fellow students, most importantly, Michael and Liz. An incident, in which Regina was the victim but the facts were twisted by backstabber Kara to portray Regina as an Anna-betrayer, causes Anna to believe she was gravely wronged by Regina, and therefore sets out to destroy her life.
Regina forms an unlikely friendship with one of her former victims, Michael, albeit it is desperate and pathetic on her side and begrudgingly on his side (because she pretty much follows him around and invades his lunch table). I really liked watching Michael and Regina's relationship develop from the first time she invades his lunch table to...possibly something more. There is certainly not enough Michael action in the book on the level of, say, Jonah Griggs, but there is enough there to understand Michael's character. I really felt for him...I felt his emptiness due to his mother being gone from him life (car accident), his conflicting feelings for helping out Regina - but what I admired the most was that he was that he didn't care what others thought of him and rose above it all. I didn't {heart} him as much as Jonah Griggs; I think I just {dig} him.
It’s interesting to see the way Regina can’t handle the torture she once doled out herself (Karma, baby) yet she is determined to fight back and get her revenge against her former friends. It seems that Regina just can’t let go of her mean girl ways and move on…until the Fab Four give her a reason to in the form of hurting someone that she actually cares about more than herself.
When I finished reading this book, my first thought was, “Man! I’m so glad that I’m not in high school anymore!!” Then my second thought was, “But…people weren’t like that in high school…is that what it’s like for girls now? Cuz if it is, man! I’m so glad that I’m not in high school anymore!!”
Reading the book left me speechless at the level to which mean girls will stoop to torture their victim. They say life imitates fiction so…this must exist somewhere in Middle America. The fact that it does really freaks me out. For awhile there, I was kind of, to put in bluntly, "messed up in the head" from reading all this mean girl drama. I think it's just hard for me to fathom this kind of behavior.
Does this give you an inkling on how GOOD this book was? The fact that it could cause such a reaction in me speaks worlds about the author’s ability to portray a disturbing story in such realistic terms. The story is fast-paced and the author makes excellent use of white space to emphasize the gravity of Regina's feelings as she goes through these torturous situations.
I highly recommend this book to those that can handle non-fluffy, edgy, and somewhat disturbing content.
Some Girls Are is about a ruling clique of 5 mean and sadistic high school girls who turn against one of their own. The leader of the clique, Anna, controls the group with an iron fist – from what they all wear (“Skirts and cardigans tomorrow!”) to who they target for their next hate campaign (“Liz is out.”). She never does the dirty work herself but uses one of her admiring brainless minions to carry out the torture.
The unfortunate victim this time is Regina Afton, once and former Anna-BFF and stooge. Regina was the primary minion for carrying out Anna’s terror campaigns against her fellow students, most importantly, Michael and Liz. An incident, in which Regina was the victim but the facts were twisted by backstabber Kara to portray Regina as an Anna-betrayer, causes Anna to believe she was gravely wronged by Regina, and therefore sets out to destroy her life.
Regina forms an unlikely friendship with one of her former victims, Michael, albeit it is desperate and pathetic on her side and begrudgingly on his side (because she pretty much follows him around and invades his lunch table). I really liked watching Michael and Regina's relationship develop from the first time she invades his lunch table to...possibly something more. There is certainly not enough Michael action in the book on the level of, say, Jonah Griggs, but there is enough there to understand Michael's character. I really felt for him...I felt his emptiness due to his mother being gone from him life (car accident), his conflicting feelings for helping out Regina - but what I admired the most was that he was that he didn't care what others thought of him and rose above it all. I didn't {heart} him as much as Jonah Griggs; I think I just {dig} him.
It’s interesting to see the way Regina can’t handle the torture she once doled out herself (Karma, baby) yet she is determined to fight back and get her revenge against her former friends. It seems that Regina just can’t let go of her mean girl ways and move on…until the Fab Four give her a reason to in the form of hurting someone that she actually cares about more than herself.
When I finished reading this book, my first thought was, “Man! I’m so glad that I’m not in high school anymore!!” Then my second thought was, “But…people weren’t like that in high school…is that what it’s like for girls now? Cuz if it is, man! I’m so glad that I’m not in high school anymore!!”
Reading the book left me speechless at the level to which mean girls will stoop to torture their victim. They say life imitates fiction so…this must exist somewhere in Middle America. The fact that it does really freaks me out. For awhile there, I was kind of, to put in bluntly, "messed up in the head" from reading all this mean girl drama. I think it's just hard for me to fathom this kind of behavior.
Does this give you an inkling on how GOOD this book was? The fact that it could cause such a reaction in me speaks worlds about the author’s ability to portray a disturbing story in such realistic terms. The story is fast-paced and the author makes excellent use of white space to emphasize the gravity of Regina's feelings as she goes through these torturous situations.
I highly recommend this book to those that can handle non-fluffy, edgy, and somewhat disturbing content.
Haha…”admiring brainless minions” they were. M was alright but I sooo loved Liz. She was the bestest in the book. But I totally agree, M’s no Jonah Griggs…
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