Courtney Summers

After being assaulted by the sheriff's son, Kellan Turner, Romy Grey was branded a liar and bullied by former friends, finding refuge only in the diner where she works outside of town, but when a girl with ties to both Romy and Kellan goes missing and news of him assaulting another girl gets out, Romy must decide whether to speak out again or risk having more girls hurt.

A Novel

All the Rage

Melissa Palmer

Book #14 Read in 2015
All the Rage by Courtney Summers (YA)

Romy has had a traumatic experience that she is trying to forget. It is hard to when a fellow classmate, Penny, goes missing after leaving a party. Romy feels responsible for Penny's disappearance. Her classmates are quick to help her feel that way. This book tells how devastating a horrible experience, followed by bullying, can be to people. It is a raw, gritty and powerful read. I received a copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a honest review.

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

Megan During

All I can say about this book is that it is powerful. The main character is far from perfect and makes a lot of mistakes but no matter what all I can think is that she is doing what she needs to to survive. Because that is what this is to me, a story about a young girl who was attacked and is now surviving in a world that is hostile and cruel. 

This was the first Courtney Summers book that I have read, but it will definitely not be my last.

Colleen

This book is hard to rate. On the one hand, it does address a topic that needs more awareness. But on the other hand, the overall result fell short of my expectations.

To start with, All the Rage is not what the description indicates. It quickly diverges from the promised story. The story is still interesting, but the publisher's description is definitely misleading. BIG SPOILER: (view spoiler)[Romy's rapist, Kellan Turner, is barely a cameo in this story. From the description, I thought he was going to play a much bigger part of the story. I also expected some sort of justice or resolution. But that does not happen AT ALL.  (hide spoiler)] Sorry, I can't explain the difference without spoiling a lot of things.

Somehow, May became my month of books told in non-chronological format. At least All the Rage was only one viewpoint though. Still, the jumping around, fragmented flashbacks, and volatile mental state of the narrator made it hard to follow at times.

Summers did a good job capturing the pain and confusion of a victim. Romy had realistic reactions. That being said, her self-destruction and burying of her problems were extremely frustrating to read at times. I really wanted to shake her and say, "YOU ARE MAKING THIS SO MUCH HARDER ON YOURSELF THAN NEED BE!" If you think life is fair, then this book isn't for you.

Rape, as well as other sexual assaults and abuse, is an issue that society tends to hush up. So I was glad to see a new book revolving around it. It is estimated that the vast majority of assaults go unreported. And most people aren't aware that most assaults on women are committed by men they know, not strangers. While All the Rage does portray the stigma, emotional trauma, and victim blaming, it didn't have as powerful a message as I was hoping. As the story went on, it felt more like an attempt at a thriller than novel dealing with an important issue. Thrillers are a dime a dozen these days with all the people trying to capitalize on the popularity of Gillian Flynn. I would rather read something that focused on inspiring women to deal with trauma than another quick novel trying (and failing) to blow my mind with some big twist. More and more as I read, I got the creeping suspicion that this book falls into the dreaded category of twisting a controversial issue to hype up a book. I wouldn't go so far as to say this book used rape as a hot button to generate sales, but if you strip away the obligated emotion at a young, disgraced rape victim you aren't left with much. Once the raw emotion is removed, the surrounding characters are fairly cookie cutter and flat. And without the rape angle, the plot was not strong. The "shocking conclusion and writing that will absolutely knock you out" was definitely missing.

It's still worth the read though. I did read it in one day, although admittedly that had a lot to do with the fact that I had to return it to the library the next day. If you don't mind your emotions being blatantly played, then you probably won't find issue with All the Rage. Maybe to others this will be a more inspiring book. But I opened it with high expectations that in the end were not met.

I will also add that most of the characters had trendy names: Romy, Kellan, Brock, Trey... (I don't remember the rest because most of the characters have already slipped from my mind.) The lineup sounds like a teen drama show. And the kids in this high school are definitely mean enough to fit the fill.

This review fulfills the "Mystery or Thriller" category of the Popsugar reading challenge. http://www.popsugar.com/love/Reading-...

Jeannette Ordas

2.5 stars. This felt really disjointed and I found it hard to get into which is a shame as these stories need to be told.

holy shit


  It’s amazing how bad you can make the truth sound. As long as you keep it partially recognizable when you spit it out, a crowd will eat it up without even thinking about how hard you chewed on it first.


You know all the ways you can kill a girl? God, there are so many.

jess

This is a massively triggering book and a commentary on rape culture. It was quite well-writer but personally I was unable to connect with Romy and I felt like things were left hanging at the end.

Skye

If you're looking for a happy ending, this isn't the book for you. 

All the Rage illustrates what happens to a young woman that has the courage to report her rape, only to be told that no one believes her. Summers does an excellent job putting the reader into Romy's shoes, allowing us to experience the confusion, self-hate, and relational stains that are the result of such a heinous act of violence. 

An eye-opening and heartbreaking novel, All the Rage touches a topic so many people wish they could avoid.

Lula Diaz

I have a lot to process after this. It shook me to the chore. Being a girl is hard.
"you know all the ways there are to kill a girl? I do."

Caroline Lewicki

I still have mixed feelings about this book. Sometimes the narrative was hard to follow and I had to go back and re-read something I felt like I missed. Powerful message and an interesting idea, but fell kind of hard. I barely remember how the book ended, though I know I finished it.

Lauren Attaway

How is it that I can be so broken-hearted for this girl Romy? This book was a painfully beautiful reminder of the ways in which we let young women down in the world we live in. Well-written and informed in a way that doesn't go easy on the reader. I can't recommend this book enough.

Emir Andrés Ibañez

Una novela juvenil oscura y profunda que explora temas como el abuso sexual, la cultura de la violación y las desapariciones de adolescentes. Narrado por una protagonista que literalmente puede transmitirte toda la bronca y la impotencia que siente en cada fibra de su cuerpo. Es intensa y trepidante, la van a leer de una sentada.

Barbara Rosas

** spoiler alert **
           You're not better off dead. I close my eyes, a fury building inside me, starting at the center of me, bleeding its way out because even now, you are not better off dead but I can't make it right. The same words Penny said to me in the dinner. I can't make it right. But who could.
Where do you even start.

Emily C Peterson

I would have given this a 5/5, but sometimes I felt that it was hard to understand what was going on, and because of that, I have some unanswered questions

 Bruna Acioly Leão

This is how I want all my YA contemporaries to be! Complex and poignant and beautifully written.

A strong main character (not in the sense that she is super tough, or fights off everything, but just because she is well developed and real), a strong plot and a strong overall message.

This book made me angry, it made me sad, it made me want to take Romy and tell her that she doesn't have to feel bad or guilty for being a woman. It made me want to shake her and tell her to stop hiding things and pushing away the people who love her. 

Most of all it made me understand and feel what she was feeling. It made me think about rape culture and the culture of undermining females and everything related to them (which is mostly the part that made me angry).

I recommend this book if you want a realistic fiction books that is not afraid to get real and scary and induce anger. If you think contemporary way is just weak romances - read this. Everyone should read this regardless, because it is such an important story and message.
(PS. There is a romance in this, but is not a main focus, but it is a possibility and the boy character and the things symbolically associated to him represent a sort hope for a brighter future for the main character - but she is also supported by her family, thankfully, because everyone else in the town is awful)

Laura

2.5 stars out of 5

So. Let's talk about Courtney Summers. Even after giving her three tries- more than I gave John Green- (admittedly one was in Violent Ends, so it may not count) I have still managed to elude the Summers Bandwagon, as they dub it in the back of my copy of this particular book. All the Rage just sealed my opinion in of her. I didn't hate this book nearly as much as I hated Some Girls Are, which I wanted to burn in the pits of Literary Hell after reading, but it was chockful of her favorite tropes. Something bad happens to girl, she gets both shunned and bullied, mean girl and her minions, blah blah blah. Every review I say said how brave she was for writing this book, when honestly it just seemed like every other book on this subject I've read before (and that's a lot, considering dark realistic/mystery is my favorite genre). Maybe it's just me, but I'm so goddamn sick of the whole slut (slit) shaming rape storyline. 

The characters were unlikeable, and the ones that were likeable were tailor-made for that purpose alone. The plot was over-the-top (Jesus, what kind of HS did Summers go to? No real teenagers are that venomous) and a bit too liberal-preachy as all it served to do was remind me why I am not a feminist (unpopular opinion). All men except for Leon and the stepdad were pricks.

So, what was good? Why 2.5 instead of 1 or 2? Well, I did like the writing. Maybe because it reminded me of authors I actually like and works I actually like. There's a bit of Wintergirls in there, which is one of my favorite books of all time, with both the whole dead girl walking thing (even though the rape was so underplayed that it loses effect because of it) and that also reminded me of Living Dead Girl, which is another book I really liked. Other than that, not much I did like, but writing does count for a lot.

Bottom line? Summers is still Discount Laurie Halse Anderson to me- a poignant writer with actual talent, but lacks the originality that the Anderson has, who Summers so obviously wants to be. Read it if you just want pretty writing, I suppose, but don't expect to take many new things away from its basic plot and characters.

Pamela Alvarado

You must already know it by now. But it never hurts to be sure. This story is powerful. The cover alone says it's not a happy one, and it'll be hard to read. And it was.

There are brief flashbacks of the rape incident itself, nothing too graphic. But it still manages to be raw, and thought-provoking, because I was in Romy's head, and Romy wasn't sure she wanted what was happening to her and she was crying and it was awful.

And then, nothing.

Nothing is done about it. She prefers to put it behind her and move on with her life. Only, it's not possible. It's always there. In the way she has to armor herself with indifference and makeup.

After the disaster that was reading Cracked Up to Be, this book made me remember why I respected and loved Courtney Summers' stories; beginning with Some Girls Are. 

There were some truly heartbreaking things in this book that made me rage at the world. Because like a most of the  stuff feminists fight about, it's there in our daily lives but we take it as a default, instead of speaking up. This is a story of a girl who tried and no one protected her.
I hope it's not a girl. -Romy about another woman's unborn child.
 
All the things coming Ava's way they won't be able to control. Things she won't ask for because she's a girl. She doesn't even know how hard it's going to be yet, but she will, because all girls find out.
Excuse me, but that's one of the saddest things I've ever read. And it's true. Don't get me wrong, I love being a girl, but it sucks when the world is hell bent on holding you back.

Romy herself seemed very well-described to me. I was afraid at first that I'd be reading about an unreasonable character that was too affected, or not affected enough. But I think there was balance here. It's always a delicate thing, with a book with themes like rape and bullying.

I was a little disappointed at the end, but I keep reminding myself not everything can be wrapped-up with a tidy bow. It was an ending that worked, so don't worry about it.

I think this is an important book to read, not sure if worth all of the hype, but definitely something.

Find this review also at A Writer's Tales

Rachel

This book broke me. I’m gonna try to review it, but if it comes out as gibberish, sorry. 

I was looking forward to reading All The Rage, I saw the description of it a few months ago and it caught my attention. Rape culture has been in the spotlight lately, but still nothing has really changed and this book is based on the rape culture problem. I never read a Courtney Summers book. So i wasn’t sure what to expect from All The Rage. Romy is an outcast and treated like shit at school because she was raped by a popular student who happens to be the sheriff’s son, but no one believes her because nothing happened to the boy who did it. But the story opens up with Romy remembering it and waking up in the woods, this confused the hell out of me for like a third of the book because the next chapter says 2 weeks earlier yet everyone is shunning her already so the rape already happened, yet the first chapter made it seem like it had just happened and the story was now going back before it did, but no. Once I got all that straightened out I was more captivated by the plot.

How Romy is treated is awful, how she feels about herself is hard to read, and how she lashes out and keeps everything to herslef almost makes you dislike her, but you get why she is behaving that way. The ending took me by surprise, it felt unfinished though, so maybe a sequel? I cried my eyes out at times and I don’t want to go into much detail about what happens, you just need to read it. It’s a hard read emotionally, but a good story that needs to be read.

Kate

Reading this felt like being punched in the gut over and over again. It was gut wrenching, emotionally draining, frustrating and utterly heartbreaking. Brilliantly written but none the less terrifying in its relevance and candour. 

TW: rape, sexual assault, ableism

Named a "Best Book of 2015" by Bustle, Book Riot, Chicago Public Library, Quill and Quire, and the B&N Teen Blog! The sheriff's son, Kellan Turner, is not the golden boy everyone thinks he is, and Romy Grey knows that for a fact. Because no one wants to believe a girl from the wrong side of town, the truth about him has cost her everything-friends, family, and her community. Branded a liar and bullied relentlessly by a group of kids she used to hang out with, Romy's only refuge is the diner where she works outside of town. No one knows her name or her past there; she can finally be anonymous. But when a girl with ties to both Romy and Kellan goes missing after a party, and news of him assaulting another girl in a town close by gets out, Romy must decide whether she wants to fight or carry the burden of knowing more girls could get hurt if she doesn't speak up. Nobody believed her the first time-and they certainly won't now-but the cost of her silence might be more than she can bear. With a shocking conclusion and writing that will absolutely knock you out, Courtney Summers' new novel All the Rage examines the shame and silence inflicted upon young women in a culture that refuses to protect them.

All the Rage A Novel

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