Bianca
Written on Jun 20, 2016
You only get to walk variations of the same lines everyone has already drawn for you.
Climbing to the top of the social ladder is hard - falling from it is even harder. Regina Afton used to be a member of the Fearsome Fivesome, an all-girl clique both feared and revered by the students at Hallowell High...until vicious rumours about her and her best friend's boyfriend start going around. Now Regina's been 'frozen out' and her ex-best friends are out for revenge. If Regina was guilty, it would be one thing, but the rumours are far from the terrifying truth and the bullying is getting more intense by the day. She takes solace in the company of Michael Hayden, a misfit with a tragic past who she herself used to bully. Friendship doesn't come easily for these onetime enemies, and as Regina works hard to make amends for her past, she realizes Michael could be more than just a friend...if threats from the Fearsome Foursome don't break them both first. Tensions grow and the abuse worsens as the final days of senior year march toward an explosive conclusion in this dark new tale from the author of "Cracked Up To Be".
- ISBN10 0312573804
- ISBN13 9780312573805
- Publish Date 5 January 2010
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 10 February 2017
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Saint Martin's Griffin,U.S.
- Format Paperback (US Tall Rack)
- Pages 224
- Language English
Reviews
KitsuneBae
Written on Feb 2, 2016
Jo
Written on Aug 24, 2015
4.5 Stars.
Courtney Summers' books have been raved about for as long as I've been blogging, and it was always my intention to read them at some point. Then recently, Summers wrote on her Tumblr about how Some Girls Are was banned from a South Carolina high school summer reading list because of constant complaints from a student's parent. Banning books is something that makes me so angry, so upon hearing the news, I ordered myself a copy of Some Girls Are in support - and it's absolutely brilliant.
Regina is one of the most popular girls in her high school. She and her friends are feared and awed at the same time. Fellow students are there for their entertainment, to be mocked, to be humiliated, to be brought down. When Regina is sexually assaulted by her best friend Anna's boyfriend, Donnie, it's the beginning of her own downfall. Anna doesn't believe he tried to rape her. She is convinced by another member of the clique, Kara - who hates and is on a lower peg than Regina - that Regina actually slept with Donnie, consensually, behind her back. Now the clique is out to make Regina's life a living hell. They trash her locker, they reveal her secrets, they create a website of hate about her. As time goes on, the bullying gets worse and worse. Her only solace is Michael, an outcast she helped outcast. Regina treated him so disgustingly, and Michael has a hard time forgiving her. But there's nowhere else for Regina to go, and his honesty - as well as her treatment - is making her rethink everything. She's suddenly seeing Michael in a completely different light, and there's the hope of something more... but will her ex-friends allow Regina to have anything good in her life?
Some Girls Are is a terrifying story, and a hugely upsetting one. Although I was nowhere near as badly bullied as the people in this book, I knew these girls. I knew what they were capable of, and I did my utmost to be invisible to them. Reading Some Girls Are brought back the fear and intimidation I felt on a daily basis. Whether you've experienced it or not, it's impossible to read this book and not feel horrified at the lengths these girls go to hurt and torment Regina. It's shocking, but yet unsurprising. And it's upsetting to watch just how bad things get for Regina.
I need to talk about Michael, and how amazing he was. I'm a little worried my description is making Michael seem like a walkover who just allowed Regina to come into his life because it's Regina, or out of intimidation. Michael is a pretty strong guy, despite having next to no friends at school. The girls made it quite clear that he is the social parriah, and no-one is to give him the time of day. Rumours flew around about him and how he's dangerous, and no-one will go near him. He doesn't give Regina an easy time, at all. In fact, he confronts her with the truth of her actions over and over, and they argue, and Regina has nowhere to hide from the light he's shining on this person she was, because she has nowhere to go, but facing it is unbearable. By the time the book ends, Regina is a better person, but she's far from perfect. It's hard to shake off treating people in a way that's all you know, and she uses it whenever she can to try to get back at her old clique, and does some awful things herself. But Michael has her questioning it all, and it's great to see this affect he has on her.
I wasn't so keen on the ending. It seemed to end to abruptly, and it felt to me like things worked out a little too easily. After everything that happened, things are sorted within a few pages, and it just felt a little off. But it's only a few pages, and the book as a whole is amazing.
I am, I'm afraid, unable to review this book without talking about the banning of it. The parent who brought about the banning of Some Girls Are, who read the whole book, said it was "smut" and "trash". How this woman could even flirt with the idea that this book could be either is beyond me. It makes me so angry. This book is absolutely incredible. It's hard-hitting, it's terrifying, but it's so real, and for this woman to not just dismiss Some Girls Are, a book that shows the reality of how horrifying bullying can really get, as "trash" but also stop other teenagers from reading this book has me raging to the point where I'm almost crying. There are so many people who could be helped by this book. So many people who can see their own experiences reflected back at them, so many people who could read this book and think twice about either actively taking part in the bullying of another person, or laughing when they witness it, or being a part of the rumour mill. This book could even affect some people so much that they could actually help someone being bullied when they see it, stand up for them, do something. And those teens in that school are being denied the opportunity to have this incredible book affect and change them, and that is beyond wrong. I am livid.
Some Girls Are is such an important reads, and needs to be read. So do read it; support Some Girls Are and Courtney Summers, and fight against the banning of books. This is a book that could do so much good.
reveriesociety_
Written on Feb 5, 2013
Leah
Written on Feb 27, 2011
The thing about Some Girls Are is that Regina is evil and there's a part of me that hates her for what she did to other people. But on the other hand, just because she was a bully doesn't mean it's carte blanche for her to be bullied and have what Donnie did happen to her. Two wrongs don't make a right and all that.
Some Girls Are is entirely about bullying, showing the effects of what it is to bully, what it means to be bullied yourself and it shows just how much bullying effects people, mentally and physically. The things that happen in the novel make me sick to my stomach, especially that final scene just before the end of the book. Any person who has been bullied in their lives will resonate with this book and the debate will rage long and hard about whether or not Regina got her just desserts. Personally, I don't think Regina's bullying was 'worthy', I just thought it was wrong. Regina wasn't perfect, and although it took her until she herself was bullied to see the error of her ways, she did see them. Big time. And for me, that said a lot.
I loved the book and managed to finish it in about three hours. There was a part of me that didn't want to carry on reading, because as a person who was bullied herself, it was hard to read about what Anna and Kara did to Regina, and what Regina herself had done to others. It was a very raw novel, and it portrayed bullying at its very worse. I loved Michael, who Regina befriends once she's frozen out by her clique. I applaud Courtney Summers for tackling the subject, she did it with aplomb and it gives the very clear message that it doesn't matter who you are, bullying is not acceptable at all. This book should be read by all, it's brutal and it's honest and although it was hard to read at times, I'm glad I did read it.
Joni Reads
Written on Jul 30, 2010
I couldn't believe some of the things that Regina went through. Everything from have "Whore" spray painted on her locker to being pushed down a flight of steps and no one doing anything about it. No matter what a person has done to me in the past I don't think I could just stand by and watch something like that happen.
It all started at a party where Regina was out with her group of friends- The Fearsome Fivesome- and she was the designated driver. Her best friend (and the leader of the group) Anna's boyfriend tried to rape her and she ran from the party and told another member of the group, Kara. Kara told Regina to not tell Anna what happened. When Regina goes to school that Monday it is clear that Kara told Anna instead, only making it appear that Regina wanted it to happen. The outcome is Regina being "frozen out" of the group.
I can't believe girls would do those kinds of things. This book was tough to read at some points. The things that were done were so brutal. You'll have to read it for yourself.
I loved the character of Michael though. He was not your typical loner. He wasn't emo, he didn't have the usual long scraggly hair. In truth, he was described to be kind of cute. But he was made an outsider by The Fearsome Fivesome. When Regina is cast out of the group she starts to sit with Michael at lunch. And their friendship develops. One of the reasons I liked this relationship, and the book in general is that it stays true to life. Regina and Michael don't find each other and suddenly nothing else matters. All the problems don't magically fall away. That's one of the reasons the book is so haunting, while reading it you know something exactly like this can be happening at the school in your town.