Ashley Hope Perez's Out of the Darkness
So this is being described as a novel about a major disaster--an explosion at a school in Texas in 1937--as a backdrop for a story about love, family, segregation, racism, etc. Which is accurate. But is also a novel about a young girl being molested by her stepfather. This is why trigger warnings are a thing! I don't want to read books about young girls being molested, I find it upsetting (I think understandably). I am especially tired of picking up YA books that I think are going to be literary and moving, and having them be super rapey. I mean, half the town thinks she should marry her stepfather, so gross! I cannot deal with this sort of thing anymore--and that's not even getting STARTED on the extremely crazy and bummerific ending--which I live-chatted in a Slack channel b/c I was so horrified (and bemused). One friend said it sounded like misery porn and I honestly have to agree. Ugh. Publishers, can't you use words like "harrowing" for stories like these, so we know? B-.
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