Author: Amanda Maciel
Publication Date: May 1st, 2014
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From debut author Amanda Maciel comes a provocative and unforgettable novel, inspired by real-life incidents, about a teenage girl who faces criminal charges for bullying after a classmate commits suicide.Emma Putnam is dead, and it's all Sara Wharton's fault. At least, that's what everyone seems to think. Sara, along with her best friend and three other classmates, has been criminally charged for the bullying and harassment that led to Emma's shocking suicide. Now Sara is the one who's ostracized, already guilty according to her peers, the community, and the media. In the summer before her senior year, in between meetings with lawyers and a court-recommended therapist, Sara is forced to reflect on the events that brought her to this moment—and ultimately consider her own role in an undeniable tragedy. And she'll have to find a way to move forward, even when it feels like her own life is over.
With its powerful narrative, unconventional point of view, and strong anti-bullying theme, this coming-of-age story offers smart, insightful, and nuanced views on high school society, toxic friendships, and family relationships.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I knew Tease was going to be a hard one to review as soon as
I read the synopsis. I usually avoid books with these topics, I think the only
other strong one I've read was Thirteen Reasons Why. Bullying in general is
more of a taboo subject, and no matter how much campaigning and bringing things
to light on bullying, I honestly don't think it makes a difference. Bullying isn't
an issue. It's a human issue. It's not just a thing that kids don't understand,
it's not just kids on a playground or teenagers in high school, it's adults and
work places just alike. But, I do think all that campaigning and bringing to
life highlights the fine line between what we think is teasing to bullying. And
Tease highlights that perfectly.
It's not just surface, there is other issues brought to
light, along with consistent bullying,
it's not just about that. Tease isn't from the perspective of the person being
bullied- it's from one of the people being blamed and charged for the bullying
that lead the a death. Which, I am so glad for because it shows you that behind
the bully, the tease, behind the person being bullied there is also a lot of
crap going on in their lives.
Like I said, it's a hard one to review, so I tried to stay a
little detached from Tease, and from this review so could write an honest opinion and not a clouded one. Because at some point in
all of this I felt sorry for Sara, and I also hated Sara. At some point in all
of this I also felt sorry for Emma, but because of Sara's perspective and some of the things Emma did to her too-
and you can't exactly dismiss that either, I also hated Emma. The thing is,
this is all about perspectives and the roles they play. But, Sara can't all be
portrayed the evil and Emma the innocent. Neither were both or either. High
schools hard, and it's all about circumstance and the roles you play. Everyone
has to take responsibility for that. Maybe it's harsh- maybe it's cruel. Everyone
has to take responsibility for what they did- even Emma. There are different
sides to the same story, the way things played out, the way things were
portrayed, there are always different
sides to the same story.
It's easy to say who was right and who was wrong, or who was
the poor innocent and who was just plain evil. The thing is this is high school.
We've all been there, and let's be honest, a lot of girls are bitches- to put
it bluntly. But, it's true. We can all be bitches, and sometimes some more than
others, and that's the thing with Tease, the only true hateful bitch in all of
it was Brielle. Yeah, Sara didn't help things, and she kind of get led astray-
and still towards the end she is extremely hard to like because she sees what
she's done is justified and therefore justifies her actions. And that Emma
killing herself was on Emma alone. I'm not going to get into the whole suicide
debate, so I'll leave that there, but I do think that part of the story could've
been handled way differently if we had a better sense of Emma than the
perceptions from Sara and Brielle and some of the other characters.
Sara has a warped sense of what she's done, but you can't
blame that all on her either because the thing that Tease shows best is the other side of things, Sara's life wasn't
perfect. But she wanted it to be, she thought it was but again- that was
warped. Because she doesn't have an
example. Her father left and created a new family and hardly sees his first
lot of children apart from random visits. Her mother is always working and
relies on Sara way too much, and I think the way this is shown isn't taking
sides but more of a way of understanding. Parents set an example, to teach you
wrong from right, to help you become a version of yourself you like, Sara never
had that, so she doesn't see what she
done was wrong. Get it? I'm not trying to justify Sara's actions- because I
continually got frustrated with her and just wanted to shake her and tell her
to wake the fuck up. And this s
exactly what makes Tease controversial. It doesn't take sides, it's simply
showing the other half of the story.
Though Tease is central to bullying it's way more than that.
It's telling a story that should be told. It's telling a story that young
adults need to read because this is the outcome of what careless actions can do- what another
human beings actions can strive a person to do.
~A proof copy was provided by Hachette Childrens in exchange for an honest review~
Rating: 4.5/5
