Week 4 Review: Tease

From Goodreads:
From debut author Amanda Maciel comes a provocative and unforgettable novel, inspired by real-life incidents, about a teenage girl who faces criminal charges for bullying after a classmate commits suicide.

Emma Putnam is dead, and it's all Sara Wharton's fault. At least, that's what everyone seems to think. Sara, along with her best friend and three other classmates, has been criminally charged for the bullying and harassment that led to Emma's shocking suicide. Now Sara is the one who's ostracized, already guilty according to her peers, the community, and the media. In the summer before her senior year, in between meetings with lawyers and a court-recommended therapist, Sara is forced to reflect on the events that brought her to this moment—and ultimately consider her own role in an undeniable tragedy. And she'll have to find a way to move forward, even when it feels like her own life is over.

With its powerful narrative, unconventional point of view, and strong anti-bullying theme, this coming-of-age story offers smart, insightful, and nuanced views on high school society, toxic friendships, and family relationships.

Supports the Common Core State Standards.

My Review:
This book was hard to read. I mean, it dealt with some tough issues, bullying, and suicide, and how one can lead to the other. And it really made me think about the other side of bullying. The common idea of bullying, for me, is the elementary/middle school bully. High School mean girls, I didn't really see that as bullying.

And I didn't see how bullies could be bullies without them being bullied, which is another part of my idea of bullying. But both Sara was lightly bullied and influenced by her friend, Brielle, and Brielle, well, we didn't learn too too much about her, but we did find out that she was raped.

And Emma, if she hadn't killed herself, this would've been what a stereotypical high school would be like. I don't think we had that at my high school, but girls are called mean names. Sometimes it because of the way they acted, sometimes it was other's perception of them, sometimes both. But Emma was in a harder situation then the regular cases. And it doesn't mean that they deserved to be called names!

I could empathize with both Sara and Emma. Emma did steal Sara's boyfriend, but only after Sara'd been jealous and hurting Emma. And then Sara, well, back for her senior year, it's like she's the new Emma, even though the school supposedly had a no bullying policy. Just goes to show how oblivious adults are to teenage insults to other teens, it's like they've forgotten or something (I'm counting myself as a teen, as I'm only 20!)

Yeah, this was a book that deal with some issues, and was thought provoking, and I enjoyed reading it!

Author: Amanda Maciel
Read: January 23rd, 2015
Source: Edelweiss
Reason Why: Sounded good, and it's a DAC Book and a SAC 2015 Book!
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Published: April 29th 2014

5/5 Hearts

4/5 Books

4/5 Stars