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Natalie Walton

Forfatter af Revenge of the Sluts

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ARC from NetGalley.

"As a lead reporter for The Warrior Weekly, Eden has covered her fair share of stories at St. Joseph's High School. And when intimate pictures of seven female students are anonymously emailed to the entire school, Eden is determined to get to the bottom of it."

That paragraph sets up the story very well. The rest of the book is about a couple of things: the investigation by Eden, a friend of one of the girls, Atticus, and Sloane, the self appointed leader of the Slut Squad, which is the name the girls give to themselves to take ownership of their situation and demonstrate their refusal to just sit by as they are treated like sluts for daring to send intimate photos to their boyfriends, which they did on the assumption that those pictures would remain private. Unfortunately, the investigation reveals how wrong that assumption is.

First off, I loved that the girls were written as very strong females who take charge of their situation, instead of as victims. Revenge porn is something that is not written about often enough, especially involving teens, and this book doesn't shy away from any uncomfortable moments.

Unfortunately, I thought the story needed to be tightened up as I felt there was a lot of information that just wasn't necessary and dragged the story down. For example, for the first 3/4 of the book, the story was rather slow, and then in the last 1/4 it took off running, so there was a bit of a pacing problem, and I wish it had been more even. But again, the subject matter is so timely and so important to talk about, I was just glad it was being done.

In summary, I recommend that everyone read this book because revenge porn isn't going to go away, and it's extremely important that we understand how it affects those on the receiving end of this violation, and don't fall into slut shaming them or blaming the victim.

5/5 stars
… (mere)
 
Markeret
jwitt33 | 4 andre anmeldelser | Dec 20, 2021 |
**An ARC of this book was provided to me by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

The book really had so much potential, but I’m sorry to say that it didn’t live up to the execution. Without going into spoilers, I’ll be discussing specific topics of pros and cons below:

The Title. I think it’s supposed to be tongue-in-cheek and edgy, but at the end of the book it felt disingenuous. The “sluts” did not get “revenge,” so why call it that? I think I would have been less let-down by this book if it was more honest with itself and the title. My expectations were that all of the victims would team up and take down Eros together and (without getting into spoilers) that was not the plot of the book. I was happy with the way things ended, but definitely not prepared, given the title of the book. I’ll have to say that this was a con.

Eden. Despite the main character being Korean-American, her culture and background is completely overlooked and unrepresented. The ‘diversity’ felt like an empty gesture since it was mentioned mentioned once, maybe twice, and didn't become incorporated into Eden's personhood. While this had me disappointed from the get-go, I still continued through the book optimistic about how it would all turn out. Despite the lack of diversity represented, the characters and their motivations felt very well developed. Eden's social circle, her ex boyfriend, and the people she interviews all felt so real and it was quite well done world-building wise. Eden and Ronnie were reporters on a mission, and the ‘who-dun-it?’ aspect of the plot was very engaging. Eden’s growth and her bonding moments with the victims as she tried to raise their voices were all very touching and definitely a pro.

Atticus. In a story about revenge porn and how horrible it is that male social currency depends on sex and nudes, we received a likable male character to balance that out. Our world isn’t black and white, and I think that Walton tried to express that with Atticus becoming a strong member of Eden’s team. That being said, even this “pro” has some caveats. It felt like Atticus was only helping because he liked Sloane, one of the victims, and not because it was simply the right thing to do. Additionally, I think Walton missed an opportunity to include more guys on the “good” side. Jeremy and Kolton were also important male side characters and while they were never part of the problem they also never denounced the scandal or supported the victims. By not doing more with these other male characters, it kind of made Atticus ‘the one exception to the norm.’ Atticus being an exception to the rule doesn’t sit right with me and I’m disappointed that something like this wasn’t caught and fixed by beta readers before publication. Again, Atticus was still a "pro" but I feel like the gender dynamics of the book could have been more nuanced.

The Prose. There were definitely hang-ups in the prose itself. At points it felt like I was reading a lecture on revenge porn and not a young adult fiction novel. In the art form of literature, especially literature for young adults, there’s an important balance between educating your readers and still creating a captivating arc for your characters. Instead of a balance, there was a lot of uncomfortable teeter-tottering between rambling about unnecessary details and diving into lectures. I don’t want to blame the book too hard on this point, as there were some special-gem scenes hidden in the rough too. I think the most important moment, outside of the Eros-reveal-climax, was Eden’s discussion with a counselor. She thinks she’s conducting an interview but it results in Eden confiding about her own confusion and hurt over the situation, even though she’s not one of the Nudegate victims. I thought this was such an important topic to touch on, as trust and betrayal are not exclusive to grand gestures like Nudegate. Eden is allowed to be just as emotional about her situation even if she wasn’t a victim of her nudes being emailed to her entire school, and those feelings are validated. So could the prose have been better? Yes, but centralizing the topic of revenge porn and addressing slut-shaming is absolutely a step in the right direction for young adult literature.
… (mere)
 
Markeret
Nikki_Sojkowski | 4 andre anmeldelser | Aug 26, 2021 |
This is a very well-written book about cyber bullying and the very controversial subjects on ethics.

Most would not condone some of the teen practices addressed in this book, but wrong or right nobody should have the right to malign another's character in such a public way without full details and proof of damage to others. In any case, bullying needs to be stopped as much as possible.

Very few individuals have not done foolish, thoughtless things in his/her High School and College years he/she has not totally regretted. The individual should be able to "put it behind him/her". with cyber tech, this is nearly impossible. Schools and parebts need to find a way to stop this from happening.

The situations and suspense steadily progresses from page to page, sustaining the reader's interest to the last page.

The characters are developed realistically, the background scenes are described well, and the Book cover and Image are "fitting".

*Reviewer's note: There is quite a lot of crude language and sexual references. I realize it is used to make literature more realistic, but in this Reviewer;'s opinion, it shows a lack of literary creativity.
… (mere)
½
 
Markeret
LAWonder10 | 4 andre anmeldelser | Jan 27, 2021 |
A shocking email has just been sent to the entire student body at St. Joseph's, a small prestigious high school in Massachusetts. As lead reporter for the Warrior Weekly, Eden is placed as lead reporter for the ground breaking story. The email showed the nude pictures of seven senior girls who attend St. Joe's. Mysteriously, the email was signed by Eros leaving everyone guessing at the identity of the perpetrator. The school administration jumps immediately to condemn the actions of the email sender, but also does not want word getting outside of the school community. Since all of the students exposed were over 18 years old, there is no crime committed under state law. Eden jumps on the story and begins to document how it has affected the girls that are involved. However, once the first part of her story comes out in the Warrior Weekly, the principle shuts down any further stories about what has been dubbed Nudegate. Eden, however, can not drop such an important story, especially when it is helping the girls express their views.

Revenge of the Sluts is a powerful and timely young adult contemporary novel about the unfortunate realities of growing up in the digital age. The story jumps right into the action with the students receiving the email. As Eden opens the email we are given insight into her character as she chooses not to scroll through all the pictures and go comfort one of the girls instead. I should have been surprised about the way the school reacted, with its priorities protecting the school and not the victims; however, this accurately mirrors how young women are treated in many situations. As Nudegate unfolds, I appreciated that the affected group of girls banded together to form their own support group, The Slut Squad, and reclaim their identities any way they could. As Eden dives deeper into their group and the mystery of the email sender, she discovers the importance of girls supporting one another. Furthermore, Eden learns how to be brave and connect with other students as she covers the story. The mystery of the email sender, Eros, was present throughout the story but didn't really take prevalence until the end as Eden and the Slut Squad stop focusing on who they want the perpetrator to be and are able to think about who really had a motive for such a personalized attack. While I'm glad that all of the girls in the story were able to rise above the attack, revenge porn is still an issue that haunts many today.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
… (mere)
 
Markeret
Mishker | 4 andre anmeldelser | Jan 18, 2021 |

Statistikker

Værker
5
Medlemmer
90
Popularitet
#205,795
Vurdering
3.9
Anmeldelser
5
ISBN
8

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