You Against Me

by Jenny Downham

If someone hurts your sister and you're any kind of man, you seek revenge.
If your brother's accused of a crime but says he didn't do it, you defend him.

When Mikey's sister claims a boy assaulted her, his world begins to fall apart. When Ellie's brother is charged with the offense, her world begins to unravel. When Mikey and Ellie meet, two worlds collide.

This is an unflinching novel from the bestselling author of Before I Die. It's about loyalty and the choices that come with it. Above all, it's a book about love.

• ISBN10: 0385752660
• ISBN13: 9780385752664
• Publish Date: 11 September 2012 (first published 2 December 2010)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Ember
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 416
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780385752664

Reviews

"It was strange how words meant something when they came out of your mouth. Inside your head they were safe and silent, but once they were outside, people grabbed hold of them." (Mikey McKensie)

You Against Me centers around two people, Mikey and Ellie. After a party one night, Karyn, Mikey's sister, accuses Ellie's brother, Tom, of rape. In order to take revenge on Tom and defend his sister, Mikey starts getting closer to Ellie so that he can find out more about Tom. However, Mikey and Ellie start falling for each other.

You Against Me handles the topic of rape in a nuanced manner. In this book, there is no such thing as black and white and it's difficult to discern the truth from the lies. You don't know who is telling the truth, Karyn or Tom. You Against Me doesn't just deal with sexual assualt, but also rape culture and slut-shaming.

"No one would ever speak to her the way the cops spoke to Karyn, asking her if she'd slept with Tom before or if she usually got so drunk at parties." (Mikey McKensie)

You Against Me deals largely with the families of the victim and the accused, how they are affected and how they choose to deal with it. I am frustrated with the way certain family members deal with the accusation and victimisation against their sibling and children, but I could still understand the motivation for their actions. I also appreciate that Mikey's family and Ellie's family came from different socio-economic backgrounds to show the different types of help and treatment that are exposed to them.

The characters in You Against Me are unlikable, but extremely believable. Mikey and Ellie are pretty terrible people who do some terrible things, but are still seen as human beings who don't know how to deal with what is going on in their world. Ellie's reactions towards her brother is extremely real. He's her brother. She loves him and remembers all the times he cared for her, but she can't help wondering if there is another side to him that she's only seen glimpses of.

Mikey and Ellie's relationship is believable and the conflicting feeling that they have towards each other are understandable, but their relationship is a plot device that is used to make the book more dramatic and I couldn't believe that their relationship was love.

You Against Me also has a open ending. This ending ties up the main plot of the book, but it doesn't deal with what I'm really interested in finding out, the outcome of the court case.

You Against Me is difficult to review and my review is extremely vague because I can't talk about this book without giving everything away. It's a book that deals with sexual assualt, has believable characters reactions from unlikable characters and revolves around a "forbidden" romance.

"It seemed strange that two people could be in the very same place and see totally different things." (Mikey McKensie)

[stefu1]

loved it!!!!!!

[ellieroth]

¿Por qué Jenny Downham no sacó más libros?
Inicio un poco lento, pero la historia en general es impresionante.

[notajammiedodger]

When I picked this book up from the library (it was on my TBR list) I didn't actually realise that it was by the same author as Before I Die until I picked it up to read a few days ago. When I realised this I was a little worried. I didn't like Before I Die very much. It just wasn't for me. But I liked You Against Me.

You Against Me is a story about a the brother of a young girl that was raped, and the sister of the boy who was accused. Mikey meets Ellie at a party and has the intentions of getting her to fall for him. She does. But what Mikey doesn't intend to happen is for him to fall for her.

I like Mikey and Ellie. I liked that parts that they were together most in the book. They were just so cute. Shy and innocent Ellie and man whore Mikey who had never felt this way about anyone before. They are so opposite yet so perfect together. Mikey is the kind of guy that has a new girl friend every week; Ellie is the kind of girl that has never had a boyfriend before. So the two of them seem the most unlikely couple, but they work so well together.

I am not personally a big fan of Jenny Downham's style of writing. I don't know how to explain how she writes. In Before I Die Tessa was a very strange and sort of morbid character. Some of the things that she thought disturbed me sometimes. It isn't as bad in this story, but there is one part in the book where Mikey is sitting on the toilet and she writes about how he grabs a wad of toilet paper and wipes himself. I personally don't like that style of writing.

That aside I did enjoy You Against Me, the love story was sweet and Mikey was amazing. Very fictional crush worthy material :P I am glad that I liked it, I was a little worried as I didn't like Downham's other book very much. Although I know that it is very popular. So I would definitely recommend them both, you may like them more than me :)

This review is also on my blog The Confessions of a Book Nerd :)

[Amber]

Of course, this is an extremely serious subject matter which needed to be handled with great care. And I must say, Jenny Downham does it beautifully. Both sides of the story are shown from Mikey and Ellie’s point of view. As a reader, you see how having a family member who was raped affects the rest of the family. And you also get to see how the other half lives, with a son who has been accused of raping a young girl whilst she was drunk.

Mikey and Ellie meet under these strange circumstances, and that aspect reminded me a lot of the way Alex and Brittany fell for each other in Perfect Chemistry. Mikey, at first, just sets out to use Ellie for information on her brother, a lot like Alex sets out to sleep with Brittany for a dare.

Mikey is left to look after his two sisters after his mother has a slight break down after Karyn was raped. He has to deal with Karyn refusing to go to school, while fighting off social services.

Ellie is the primary witness for her brother, and you can imagine the stress that she’s under while her brother is being put through court and it is assumed that she will testify for him. The tension between her, her family, and Mikey is just mind blowing.

I don’t want to ruin anything for you guys, so I won’t say anything more about the plot or the characters. One of the best things about this book is that, as a reader, you’re kept wondering if Ellie’s brother is guilty, or if Mikey’s sister is making it all up.

It’s a truly incredible story about friendship, love and family. I highly recommend it to all of those who enjoy reading realistic fiction. This is a YA novel, but it can most definitely be enjoyed by those who read adult fiction as well.

I think books about the issue of rape and consent are very important. But there are better books out there.

This book was way too long. I hated the main characters. The romance was pretty meh. There was very little to like.

Try The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis or Almost by Anne Eliot instead.

[Jo]

If someone hurts your sister and you’re any kind of man, you seek revenge, right?

If your brother’s accused of a terrible crime but says he didn’t do it, you defend him, don’t you?

When Mikey’s sister claims a boy assaulted her, his world begins to fall apart.

When Ellie’s brother is charged with the offence, her world begins to unravel.

When Mikey and Ellie meet, two worlds collide.

This is a brave and unflinching novel from the bestselling author of Before I Die. It’s a book about loyalty and the choices that come with it. But above all it’s a book about love. From Amazon UK

I read Before I Die a few months ago and absolutely loved it, so I was thrilled when I received an ARC for You Against Me. However, reading the premise, I have to admit, I wasn't looking forward to it. Sexual assault is a subject matter I'm sure no-one likes, but, even though I've never been assaulted, it's a situation I find all too easy to imagine. It's honestly one of the things I think of when I get asked "what are you most scared of?" So reading this book wasn't a priority to me. It's not a fear I like to face in any format. But I've read it now, and all I can say is wow.

I don't even know where to start with this book. It's difficult to read, but not as hard as I thought it would be, as the victim, Karyn, isn't one of the narrators. Still, Mikey having to see her fear everyday was hard, as was being able to understand her not wanting to leave the house, and just stay under the covers on the sofa.

This book is also clever. Until a certain point in the book, was never sure who was telling the truth. Did Tom, Ellie's brother, actually rape Karyn, or was she lying all along? Both Karyn and Tom were saying things that I found plausible, even believable, and I kept chopping and changing my mind over who was telling the truth. I'm really sad to say that when reading Ellie's perspective, and the conversations she had with her brother, I wanted him to be innocent. Meaning, when he said disgusting things about Karyn, I could see his point. I found myself understanding his justifications - if she was going to wear clothes like that, and be all over him, maybe she was a "slag". Then an instant later I'd realise what I was thinking, what he was saying. Behaving a certain way and dressing a certain way does not ever justify rape. Ever. He said it wasn't rape, that she was asking for it. But anger boiled in my blood everytime he insulted her. Rape or not, that is no way to talk about any woman. I just think it goes to show how brilliant a writer Jenny Downham is, to make me waver over who to believe, to see everyone's point, even if it is vile. Just brilliant.

I loved the characters of Ellie and Mikey. Neither were perfect, flawless characters. Both did things wrong, but for what they thought were the right reasons. There were times when I wanted to shake, and sometimes slap, both. But their hearts were in the right place. It was awful to see them both have to deal with so much from their families, when they're also having to deal with an impossible situation - not just the victim, the accused and the parents. It was really heartbreaking at times, and I wanted to give each of them a hug.

The way they were together was just so wonderful, though. So fresh, and sweet. Both were discovering things they had never experienced before, and it was just so, so sweet to see their romance blossoming. But it was hard to see them try to fight it; how can they be falling for the one who's brother raped his sister/who's sister accused her brother of rape? It was sad, yet beautiful all at the same time. It really was just the sweetest thing.

One thing I was a little disappointed with was how it ended. I can't really go into this without spoiling it, but I thought there would have been more. Yet, with hindsight, I can understand having it end the way it did, and think it was probably the best way to end it.

A really phenomenal novel that deals with such a difficult topic in such a brilliant way. If she hadn't with Before I Die, Downham would have definitely found herself a place amongst my favourites with this book. Can't recommend this book enough. This review does not do this book justice, you really need to read it for yourself. You need to read it.

From Once Upon a Bookcase - YA book blog