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snowbenton 's review for:
All the Rage
by Courtney Summers
Review copy generously granted by NetGalley.
Romy lives in a small town where, when she tells everyone that the sheriff's son sexually assaulted her while she was drunk, her friends turn on her and the sheriff himself calls her an attention seeking liar. And then her former best friend goes missing, and everyone starts wishing Romy was gone instead.
The whole book felt very disjointed. It starts by saying NOW, then TWO WEEKS BEFORE, then back to NOW, even though the first chapter happened well before the TWO WEEKS BEFORE chapter. I spent a lot of time jumping back pages to make sure I didn't miss something, only to realize entire sections just didn't relate to anything else. Romy herself was also so scatterbrained that it made it difficult to keep up; it seemed at some points that she was actually hallucinating, which made it seem melodramatic and less meaningful. So much of the story hinges on her presence at Wake Lake, yet I never understood why she went there because the chapter skipped from her being at work to waking up the next morning.
The ending was a definite letdown. It restated a chapter from the beginning, and instead of feeling like a circular, promising ending it left me feeling empty. I wanted to believe that Romy could recover from what was done to her, but the ending made me feel like she was not willing to take the steps she needed to to take care of herself.
I liked the way that Summers writes supporting characters. Romy's mother and her mother's boyfriend are wonderful, her not-quite boyfriend Leon is sweet as is his discerning sister, and even the staff at the restaurant where Romy works felt fleshed out. When Romy goes for her runs I felt like I could picture the town and the forest around her. Summers has a great touch for atmosphere.
I believe this is a story that needs to be told and read and I loved the way that she described Romy's fear for an unborn child and how a mother is described as "A woman who doesn't think about daughters she doesn't have." This was such a brutal condemnation and so fitting. I just wish the story itself was told in a more cohesive way. Too many important parts were missing.
Romy lives in a small town where, when she tells everyone that the sheriff's son sexually assaulted her while she was drunk, her friends turn on her and the sheriff himself calls her an attention seeking liar. And then her former best friend goes missing, and everyone starts wishing Romy was gone instead.
The whole book felt very disjointed. It starts by saying NOW, then TWO WEEKS BEFORE, then back to NOW, even though the first chapter happened well before the TWO WEEKS BEFORE chapter. I spent a lot of time jumping back pages to make sure I didn't miss something, only to realize entire sections just didn't relate to anything else. Romy herself was also so scatterbrained that it made it difficult to keep up; it seemed at some points that she was actually hallucinating, which made it seem melodramatic and less meaningful. So much of the story hinges on her presence at Wake Lake, yet I never understood why she went there because the chapter skipped from her being at work to waking up the next morning.
The ending was a definite letdown. It restated a chapter from the beginning, and instead of feeling like a circular, promising ending it left me feeling empty. I wanted to believe that Romy could recover from what was done to her, but the ending made me feel like she was not willing to take the steps she needed to to take care of herself.
I liked the way that Summers writes supporting characters. Romy's mother and her mother's boyfriend are wonderful, her not-quite boyfriend Leon is sweet as is his discerning sister, and even the staff at the restaurant where Romy works felt fleshed out. When Romy goes for her runs I felt like I could picture the town and the forest around her. Summers has a great touch for atmosphere.
I believe this is a story that needs to be told and read and I loved the way that she described Romy's fear for an unborn child and how a mother is described as "A woman who doesn't think about daughters she doesn't have." This was such a brutal condemnation and so fitting. I just wish the story itself was told in a more cohesive way. Too many important parts were missing.