All the Rage

"all the rage" by courtney summers really makes you feel all the rage about rape culture and victim blaming. everything about this book and the portrayal of the aftermath of being sexually assaulted is realistic and raw and painful to read about but so powerful and important at the same time

tw: rape, sexual abuse, bullying Okay, this was an intense read. If I would have had the chance I would have read “All the Rage” in one sitting, despite it not being what I expected. This is not a story about a rape itself; it’s a story about the consequences for the victim. It hurt so much to read about Romy’s life after accusing the son of the sheriff of raping her: no one believes her, she is victim of daily bullying by classmates and withdraws from her family. The only thing that brings her some joy is her job at a diner out of town where no one knows her story. There she even allows herself to get close to a boy who works as a cook and really seems to like her. Then, after the annual senior beach party, where Romy gets roofied and left at the side of a road outside town, her ex-best friend Penny goes missing. Which leads to more bullying because Penny’s friends claim that the search for Romy - who was reported missing by her mom when she didn’t come home that night - kept the police from using their full force to search for Penny. So, Romy is not only a liar but also the reason one of the most liked girls of the school hasn’t been found yet. After that “All the Rage” is more of a murder mystery. Romy tries to figure out what happened to Penny while trying to survive all the shit that’s thrown at her. I have to say that the synopsis of “All the Rage” is quite misleading. It names Kellan Turner as Romy’s rapist but he isn’t even in the book. He was sent away after the accusation came out and hasn’t been back since. Also, the mentioned ties Penny has “to both Romy and Kellan” are only that she dates Kellan’s brother, Alek. It has nothing to do with the unfolding of the story. At all. Same goes for the “news of him assaulting another girl in another town”. Yes, Penny tells Romy the night she disappears that she was approached by a girl who saw her with Kellan and Alek that she should be cautious of Kellan. But that’s it. It is not mentioned again until the very last chapter (when one of the girls who bullies Romy on a daily basis get her redemption arc). I don’t know how to really put this into the right words but I expected more “action”. The blurb sounds like Romy gets to a point where she fights back but I didn’t really see this. Or at least not in the way the synopsis implied. Which doesn’t make “All the Rage” a bad book, it’s a great book that did a lot to my emotional state. It just wasn’t what I expected.

What an intense read. So good, though!