Girls Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake
Release date: May 15, 2018
(Special thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing an ARC for review.)
Summary:
Mara and Owen are about as close as twins can get. So when Mara’s friend Hannah accuses Owen of rape, Mara doesn’t know what to think. Can the brother she loves really be guilty of such a violent crime? Torn between the family she loves and her own sense of right and wrong, Mara is feeling lost, and it doesn’t help that things have been strained with her ex-girlfriend, Charlie.
As Mara, Hannah, and Charlie navigate this new terrain, Mara must face a trauma from her own past and decide where Charlie fits in her future. With sensitivity and openness, this timely novel confronts the difficult questions surrounding consent, victim blaming, and sexual assault (Goodreads).
Thoughts: (Warning: This review contains spoilers.)
Firstly, I just want to draw your attention to that absolutely gorgeous cover! It’s what caught my attention even before I read the summary.
It didn’t take me very long to finish this book despite the complex and harrowing subject matter that may trigger some people, but at the same time, this should be covered more often due to its prevalence. I’m glad sexual assault/rape is getting an increasing amount of attention in YA fiction in the past few years, particularly with what has been happening in Hollywood at the moment (and for a while for that matter). This is a heavy book that requires many moments of reflection but will also leave you feeling hopeful for change.
Ashley Herring Blake creates a wonderful and diverse cast of characters by incorporating a bisexual protagonist and a gender queer character. Mara and Charlie’s relationship evolves beautifully as they both come to terms with their own selves, the devastating situation at hand, and their break-up. Their struggles are apparent and Blake ensures they deal with it head-on without adding any flowery details to distract the reader from the severity of the rape, as well as the insufferable consequences, and becoming comfortable with themselves. I find that a lot of characters’ voices get lost sometimes in YA Contemporaries, and it may be that there’s an increasing interest in this genre and characters begin to blend in with each other the more you read from this genre, however, I didn’t find that happening with Girl Made of Stars. You grow progressively concerned for Mara and her relationship with her twin brother Owen, her brother’s ex-girlfriend Hannah, her ex-girlfriend Charlie, her parents, and even her brother’s best friend Alex.
It would be easy to brush off the parent’s reaction to the rape, but their adamant denial that their own son could do something so horrible was carefully approached. Their coping mechanism was frustrating to read but written very well by Blake.
Despite the fact that this book is a quick read, I wished more punitive consequences and justice was brought for Hannah. It feels like there could have been more done; instead, it seemed rushed and I was left feeling a bit cheated of some proper justice being served.
Owen seemed to have gotten off scot-free; this is not taking in the fact that his and Mara’s relationship is now forever changed. If we were to examine this more closely and look at how it has changed his school life, Owen got to stroll back into the building and act as if things were normal and that Hannah was making things up, he had his parents fully supporting him and denying every detail as a “misunderstanding,” and he even got to start dating a new girl. Although his close relationship with Mara is severed, she’s still his sister and we see her desperately attempting to cope with the fact that Owen raped someone she’s close to.
At the same time, readers should appreciate how Blake has developed the sequence of events. Not all rapists are caught and given a sentence they justly deserve. There are still stories that need to be told and people who need their voices heard; which is why I commend Blake for writing a book that supports sexual assault and rape victims. Even though Owen did not suffer the consequences I had hoped, Hannah had an amazing support system in Mara, Charlie, and her parents and it’s a start.
Reviewed by Ms. Lee.