Summary: Three misfits come together to avenge the rape of a fellow classmate and in the process trigger a change in the misogynist culture at their high school transforming the lives of everyone around them in this searing and timely story.
Who are the Nowhere Girls?
They’re everygirl. But they start with just three:
Grace Salter is the new girl in town, whose family was run out of their former community after her southern Baptist preacher mom turned into a radical liberal after falling off a horse and bumping her head.
Rosina Suarez is the queer punk girl in a conservative Mexican immigrant family, who dreams of a life playing music instead of babysitting her gaggle of cousins and waitressing at her uncle’s restaurant.
Erin Delillo is obsessed with two things: marine biology and Star Trek: The Next Generation, but they aren’t enough to distract her from her suspicion that she may in fact be an android.
When Grace learns that Lucy Moynihan, the former occupant of her new home, was run out of town for having accused the popular guys at school of gang rape, she’s incensed that Lucy never had justice. For their own personal reasons, Rosina and Erin feel equally deeply about Lucy’s tragedy, so they form an anonymous group of girls at Prescott High to resist the sexist culture at their school, which includes boycotting sex of any kind with the male students.
Told in alternating perspectives, this groundbreaking novel is an indictment of rape culture and explores with bold honesty the deepest questions about teen girls and sexuality.
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"It is all the girls, all their voices, calling out as loud as they can. They burn through darkness. They brand the night.”
This. was. Amazing. And I can't believe that I somehow didn't hear of this book until now.
Amy Reed has a powerful writing voice that shone through the entirety of this book and it was definitely different than any style of writing I've ever read before.
This book was centered around Grace Salter, Erin DeLillo, and Rosina Suarez, switching between their perspectives until they all felt woven into one. I liked each of them because they truly were unique in their own ways. I liked Grace's empathy for others, Erin's passion for science and her sarcasm, and Rosalina's bravery, but more than anything I loved their friendship. They were also very diverse since Grace is chubby and comes from a religious family, Erin has Asperger's, and Rosalina was Mexican and likes girls while being completely unapologetic of it. These characters felt so real that I could feel all of their emotions in a very searing and raw way. It honestly surprised me a little how well I could connect with them since I'm usually not a fan of the second person, especially with more than one perspective thrown in the mix. But the author did a great job of making sure each character had her own unique voice so that it was easy to differentiate between them.
I also really appreciated the unnamed points of view that were scattered throughout because it really tied everything together and made it feel like a collective story of all the Nowhere Girls.
Overall, this was a very inspiring and empowering story, though it was a bit heavy at times, and I recommend it to anyone who's looking for a powerful feminist read, but maybe not anyone who could be triggered by it.
You can find this review on Goodreads here! https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3982948086
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