The sheriff's son, Kellan Turner, is not the golden boy everyone thinks he is, and Romy Grey knows that for a fact. Because no one wants to believe a girl from the wrong side of town, the truth about him has cost her everything--friends, family, and her community. Branded a liar and bullied relentlessly by a group of kids she used to hang out with, Romy's only refuge is the diner where she works outside of town. No one knows her name or her past there; she can finally be anonymous. But when a girl with ties to both Romy and Kellan goes missing after a party, and news of him assaulting another girl in a town close by gets out, Romy must decide whether she wants to fight or carry the burden of knowing more girls could get hurt if she doesn't speak up. Nobody believed her the first time--and they certainly won't now--but the cost of her silence might be more than she can bear.
With a shocking conclusion and writing that will absolutely knock you out, Courtney Summers' new novel All the Rage examines the shame and silence inflicted upon young women in a culture that refuses to protect them.
Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Kind of disjointed but still okay...
By endlesswonderofreading
All the Rage is a book that I feel I should love. It's a book I should have loved mainly because the message is trying to get across is one that I feel should be strenuously talked about. I've also read most of Courtney Summers books and have liked all of them (with exception of Some Girls Are, which I LOVED). However, my feelings for All the Rage are all over the place and thinking about it systematically, I realize that there are some things about it that I personally didn't like enough to rate it higher than three stars. So, onward with what I deemed to be the flaws...I found All the Rage to be all over the place. Call me boring, but I'm one of those readers who prefers books that are in chronological order for the most part or at least some sort of order when it comes to flashbacks (like one chapter in the present, then next in flashback, etc.), but All the Rage didn't seem to have much order. Due to this, I found it to be fragmented and disjointed. I get it. I get that the author was trying to express how Romy was feeling at the moment and how her emotions and memories were all over the place. But as a reader, I felt like I was abruptly jerked off course at the end of every chapter. And I don't really enjoy feeling that way.All the Rage was extremely frustrating for me. And I think it was supposed to be for the most part. Romy herself was a frustrating character. A lot of her decisions were frustrating and I even yelled "This is so stupid!" at her while reading one particular part of this book. The other frustrations that I had with this book in regards to the way the local police department dealt with Romy's rape and all of the other events. The way the boys there treated women and saw them as objects. Just the whole town in particular serve to do nothing other than extremely upset me. In fact, All the Rage as a whole just angered me. And I knew it was going to. In fact, I actually debated in whether or not to pick this book up today because I thought "You want to relax while reading. Do you really want to read a book that's going to make you want to throw it against the wall repeatedly?" And it did. Some frustrations I was supposed to feel, some probably not.One thing that I can say for Courtney Summers is that wow, she can write! Regardless of my feelings for the disjointedness of All the Rage, I never once thought that it was badly written (I just don't enjoy the all over the place format). I didn't find any of the characters to be stereotypical and all of the characters from the good, the bad, and the not entirely important were all amazingly and fully written. Plus, All the Rage was one hell of a page-turner. I read it in a few hours and only because I had to stop to eat something halfway through.Overall, I did like All the Rage enough. If you're one of those people who is okay with novels not following chronological order, then I highly recommend All the Rage.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
All the Rage
By Leeanna Chetsko
ALL THE RAGE is a book that made me quiver with rage for what Romy endures.“Because ‘s***’ was just too humanizing, I guess. A slit’s not even a person (p. 38*).”You know who writes SLIT on Romy’s mom’s car? The son of the sheriff. If that doesn’t make you want to dive into Romy’s story, to see why everyone hates her so much, I don’t know what will. I’m not trying to be sensational -- ALL THE RAGE is full of lines I could quote.ALL THE RAGE is my first Courtney Summers book, but it won’t be my last. It’s hard stuff to read at times, but I *loved* how the author didn’t pull any punches or censor anything. I’m sure when I reread this, I’ll find more gems hidden in its pages. Like all the little observations she makes about how society has trained women to be polite. Such as when Romy automatically takes a napkin with a number from a guy who creeps her out, “like the obligation to be nice to him is greater than myself (p. 233*).”I was a bit confused at the start of ALL THE RAGE, because the book flips between NOW and BEFORE, between Romy’s rape and the horribleness she endures after. There’s not a lot of flipping though, and eventually I knew enough to put the pieces together. I think the confusion I felt as a reader echoes some of Romy’s confusion over what happened to her, since she couldn’t remember.Okay. So I haven’t really talked about the book itself, the plot or characters, but I’m not going to do that. I went into this book with almost no foreknowledge, and I think that’s the best way to read it. I want it to hit you as hard as it hit me, so no spoilers from me.I think ALL THE RAGE should be required reading for all high school students and well, everyone. Because it talks about rape culture in a way that will make you think. We live in a world where rape is blamed on the victim for what she was wearing or because she asked for it. We live in a world where if rapists are actually convicted, it’s *their* future that’s ruined because of one little mistake. We live in a world where people are sympathetic for the perpetrator, not for the victim. We live in a world where people in power can cover up a crime or even ignore it. We live in a world where Romy hopes an unborn baby isn’t a girl, because being a girl is hard and dangerous and painful.And I apologize for the preachiness, but that’s what ALL THE RAGE did to me. It makes me want to shout from the rooftops. It makes me want to put the book in as many hands as I can. That’s the sign of an excellent read and an impactful book.*Quotes are from an Advanced Review Copy, and may change by publication.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful.I wish I could give this powerful book more than 5 stars!!
By Cynthia Parten
I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my review.his book is kind of hard for me to review, maybe it's because it is about such a tough topic. The book starts with Romy being sexually assaulted. But the story of the rape is told in a very disjointed way, but it's also very believable and emotional. It was written about in such a way that it felt like this was a flashback or a nightmare that Romy has on a regular basis instead of just a description of events. Also, Romy had been drinking so it wouldn't have been believable for her to remember every single detail of the night she was raped. What is believable is how Romy is treated afterwards and how she tries to cope with the attack. She never actually makes a disclosure to anyone except her parents about the rape and she never makes the decision to press charges. But it is a small town and the entire town finds out when her alcoholic father makes the accusation in a bar one night. In a heartbeat, her friends turn against her and she is labeled as a slut and a liar.Romy also works as a waitress just outside of her town. She loves this job because no one knows who she is and no one is constantly bullying her or calling her names. In this job, she meets a guy, Leon. Leon was so sweet and just what Romy needed. The problem is that because of everything Romy had been through, she had a hard time believing he could like her. There were so many times during the course of this book that I just wanted to shake Romy and tell her to find her voice and to stand up for herself against everyone who was accusing her of lying. Leon was one of the people that I just wanted her to talk to. He was such a good guy and I completely understand why she didn't feel comfortable telling him, especially after her best friend turned against her. But because she was traumatized and because she didn't want him to know anything about her, she didn't treat him very well at times. He was understandably confused because she kept pushing him away.The synopsis does make it sound like the missing girl is a main part of the story. Honestly, that doesn't happen until more than halfway through the story. It's not fully about the missing girl. It is about Romy When the girl does go missing, the author kept me guessing about what happened. I kept thinking I knew the guilty party, but I was completely blown away by that. I really think the only negative thing I can say about this book is that the time frames were a bit confusing. The author started with the rape and then immediately goes to after the attack with no real separation. It took me a few pages to even realize it was after the attack and even then, I wasn't clear on how much time had passed.This is a very raw, emotional book. Highly recommended!
