The Female of the Species

by Mindy McGinnis

Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn t feel bad about it. When her older sister, Anna, was murdered three years ago and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best. The language of violence.

• ISBN10: 0062320890
• ISBN13: 9780062320896
• Publish Date: 20 September 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Well I have a few complicated feelings about this book? Mostly because it deals with some really heavy topics – rape and murder. Normally in reviewing books I’ll talk about the characters and what I liked disliked but in The Female of the Species… one of your three perspectives is that of a killer.

So how to talk about Alex? Alex was… interesting. She was incredibly well-written, no doubt about that. There were points in the book where you were able to forget about what she had done… and then Mindy McGinnis would transition to a scene where you couldn’t forget. Some scenes included gory details. Those scenes made me deeply uncomfortable, not in least because I found myself remembering just a few pages before how I had been starting to like her. Lots of feelings about that. But I’ve got to respect Mindy McGinnis for the skill of her writing – these characters are likable despite their various unforgivable flaws.

The topics here are uncomfortable, but also important. I’m going to skirt around this a little bit, because I don’t want to spoil anything for people interested in this novel. While the topics are really heavy in the book – including conversation about how to approach them and how many people don’t and why – I never really felt like it was a message being shoved down my throat. The story flowed very naturally and it was a little twisted and uncomfortable, but it didn’t feel like a book that was here to preach to the reader. It felt like a book that was here to tell a story… and that story happened to be the type we don’t normally like to talk about. And the type of story maybe we should talk about a little bit more.

It raises the question too – where is the line? Which crime is worse? The Female of the Species is a book that makes you think.

The ending, too, was good. There were messages woven in that too, and empowerment, even if it was not the way we’re used to seeing it. Because the little things matter, too.

Altogether, the writing is really good. Early in, I thought this novel was going to be forgettable. I have fairly mixed luck with YA thrillers, where either they are very predictable or they are just okay and I forget I read them. This book? I don’t think I’m going to forget about this book any time soon. It was handled in just the right way that it keeps popping back into my head. It’s not an enjoyable book, but The Female of the Species is an intriguing read that made me consider the types of things I don’t like to think about. It’s not a story for the lighthearted, but it is one worth reading and a reminder that not all people are who you think they are. That horrible things happen in this world.

I recommend this one, but tread with caution, because it’s heavy.

[liz089]

I read this one as an audiobook.

Damn... this was something else.
Just like her other novel I read recently, Heroine, this one is really heavy. She does not shy away from difficult topic's and tells a very realistic and brutal story.
It has impact.

As for the audio part, I really liked it. All three POV's had their own narrator and I really enjoyed "reading" it like this.

This is a book everyone should read. Told from three different characters, The Female of the Species tells the story of Alex Craft and her final year of school. Alex has been shaped by the events of her past - mainly that of the rape and murder of her older sister, Anna. The police know who did it but could never find enough evidence for a conviction. Alex takes matters into her own hands - she plots and plans and then murders him without regret and without guilt. But as much as that has shaped Alex - this book isn't really about that.

It's not even really about Alex - because Alex is just one part of the story. What happened to her sister was horrible and tragic - but the real story is about the fact that it KEEPS HAPPENING. Anna isn't the only girl in town to be raped. She's definitely not the only girl in the world to be raped. The Female of the Species examines the culture we live in - the way in which rape jokes are still made, sexual assault is just the way it is and "not being molested as a child is considered luck." It examines the language we use and the behaviour we accept and the comments we make and it brutally shames us for it. And frankly - rightly so.

There is so much to be said about this book. So much so I don't even really know where to start. I loved the portrayal of the parental figures. Peekay's parents especially, but Jack's were great too. Supportive parental figures are so rare in YA and I really liked how they weren't just placeholders, but were contributing characters. I loved that Peekay's parents loved her so much and were so accepting of her.

I loved Alex's determination to end bad behaviour. She constantly speaks up against rape jokes and gossip and judgement. She calls out Sara on her jealousy.

"She looks nice," I say, and she does. Branley always looks put together in a way that tells me she spends hours in front of a mirror before going outside. And while I don't understand that, I can respect it." And let's face it we need more of this. Because just because we don't understand something doesn't mean we should mock it.

I love that she defends Branley. She defends her outfits and she defends her behaviour and she puts the blame back where it should be. (In this case, on Adam.)

"She likes boys, and she can get them. You were hurt by that, but it wasn't Branley who hurt you. It was Adam." Too often women fall into the habit of blaming the "other woman" but it isn't the other woman who should be faithful.

Branley and Jack used to hook up all the time, Alex. [....] So how would you feel if you found out Jack still had Branley on the side?"
"I'd be pissed," she says. "But not at Branley. She doesn't owe me anything."

She normalises sex and the fact that women can like sex and have casual sexual relationships too and that they should be able to without judgement. But she also acknowledges that sex shouldn't be something one has to do because everyone else is. And perhaps most importantly, she calls Peekay out on her casual slut shaming.

"Only you would describe sex like that," I say.
"Well, that's what it is," she shoots back.
"Yeah, and now I, like never, ever want to do it."
"Yes, you do," she argues. "And I do too, and there's nothing wrong with that. But it's not something that I'm going to do with Jack just because I'm his girlfriend and we're supposed to.
"So in other words, you're not Branley Jacobs," I say, going for a joke that falls flat. I hear it not cover the distance and immediately wish I hadn't said it.
"You shouldn't be that way about her," Alex says. "I hear what people say and I bet half of it isn't even true. And even if it is - fine. She's not different from you and me; she wants to have sex. So let her."

One of my favourite parts was the graffiti in the bathrooms and how Alex and then later Peekay and Sara fought to remove it. But it was also perhaps the saddest part. This idea of girls writing about date rape and who to avoid - it made me angry because it's so honest. Women often don't report rapes or sexual assault - because they were drinking or because they were wearing particular clothing or because it was their boyfriend or friend or they think they'll be judged and perhaps the worst part of that is the fact that they will be. I wish that wasn't the case. I wish there were more police like Officer Nolan and more people like Alex to help women feel like they can report these crimes. But it isn't and the writing on the bathroom wall was perhaps the most honest part of this novel.

And that said, this book isn't a condemnation of all men. It recognises there is good and bad in all of us. And maybe we don't always get it right but we can try to be better. Jack is constantly trying to repent for his playboy behaviour. And Adam who drops Peekay for Branley because she's "hot" is redeemed.


I'm crying by the time I go into the first stall, the door clicking shut behind me as I pump the Windex, ready to wipe away anything that pisses me off. Instead I end up sitting on the toilet, reading things I never expected.
I love Jessica.
Yr mom blew me, followed by
My mom's dead
Then -- Sorry, dude. My bad.
Peekay won't put out
My fingers tighten into a fist, but underneath it I recognise Adam's handwriting; U don't deserve it.
And on the back of the stall door graffitied in letters as high as my arm:
REST IN PEACE ALEX

Both men and women are guilty of contributing to the way in which women are perceived and treated. As much as men get a lot of the blame - women are guilty too. Our judgement of women's clothes, their behaviour and their sexual relationships all add to the problem. But we can change it. We can change how we respond to this behaviour and speak up when things aren't right. Whether that's reporting rape or sexual assault, warning others about what to watch out for and being there for each other and not tearing each other down.

Alex is gone but she's very much still here, and not only in my mind. I've seen her in Sara's willingness to skip class and erase dicks with me; in a loud complaint from a freshman instead of just rolling her eyes when a senior smacks her ass; in a not cool, man from Park when one of his friends made a rape joke. And she's here in the bathroom stall with me, her hand behind the writing on the wall even if it wasn't her fingers holding the marker.
stay away from Blake C. - date rape 3/26
me too 2/4
chad will roofie you don't party with him.



This book maybe isn't perfect but it is an unflinching look at our society and one which everyone should read.

[reveriesociety_]

This book was a revelation.

It’s hard because I wouldn’t give it five stars, because Alex’s character just didn’t completely grip me. Don’t get me wrong, she’s totally badass and my hero, but there was just this gap between us that kept me from being 100% immersed.

But this book is important. In the same way, Courtney Summer’s All the Rage, or Some Girls Are are. It presents an ugly reality and challenges it directly and relentlessly.

I felt truly empowered. Like the book was saying It doesn’t have to be like that. Push back.

I don’t think the author really wants us to go around killing people, but I gathered she does want us to do something.


Full review and other book reviews at Reverie Society

[clementine]

I loved the concept of this book, but I wish it had gone further. A lot of the reviews on here mention how dark and unflinching it is, but I felt like so much of it was about high school relationships and I wanted more of the juicy, gory stuff! I wanted more details on Anna's murder and more development of Anna in general - it felt very surface to me. Alex and Jack's relationship didn't feel natural to me, but I liked the female friendships a lot. I do think this book is a blistering indictment of rape culture, and I liked the characters. I think I probably would have enjoyed this more as a teenager. I didn't actually realize it was a YA book and I probably wouldn't have read it if I had.

[Bianca]

But boys will be boys, our favorite phrase that excuses so many things, while the only thing we have for the opposite gender is women, said with disdain and punctuated with an eye roll.

— A dark and daring book about rape culture, sexual objectification, and slut shaming. Violent, disturbing but very powerful!