You Too? by Janet Gurtler Blog Tour + Giveaway
Happy Sunday Everyone! Instead of my usual post, this is my stop during the blog tour for You Too? by Janet Gurtler. This blog tour is organized by Lola's Blog Tours. The blog tour runs from 6 till 24 January. See the tour schedule here: http://www.lolasblogtours.net/blog-tour-you-too-by-janet-gurtler
# of Pages: 320
Publication: January 7th, 2020
Source: E-ARC
Genre: YA Non-Fiction
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | Indigo
A timely and heartfelt collection of essays inspired by the #MeToo movement, edited by acclaimed young adult and middle-grade author Janet Gurtler. Featuring Beth Revis, Mackenzi Lee, Ellen Hopkins, Saundra Mitchell, Jennifer Brown, Cheryl Rainfield and many more.
When #MeToo went viral, Janet Gurtler was among the millions of people who began to reflect on her past experiences. Things she had reluctantly accepted—male classmates groping her at recess, harassment at work—came back to her in startling clarity. She needed teens to know what she had not: that no young person should be subject to sexual assault, or made to feel unsafe, less than or degraded.
You Too? was born out of that need. By turns thoughtful and explosive, these personal stories encompass a wide range of experiences and will resonate with every reader who has wondered, “Why is this happening to me?” or secretly felt that their own mistreatment or abuse is somehow their fault—it’s not. Candid and empowering, You Too? is written for teens, but also an essential resource for the adults in their lives—an urgent, compassionate call to listen and create change.
I wish I had the words to describe where I should begin with the review of this book. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find them. This book was powerful, awe-inspiring and difficult to read. Most of us, if not all, have heard of the #metoo movement whether we have declared ourselves a part of it or whether we've just kept up with the stories that have been shared by brave and powerful individuals. In all honesty I had a very hard time reading this book. It took me ages to get through the stories since I received the e-ARC last year. It's not because it's poorly written, but how do you enjoy stories that are revolved around the trauma inflicted on so many women and men? It was heart-breaking and triggering for me as I too have been raped and sexually assaulted. It's not something that I share often because a few times that I have shared my story people have looked at me in disbelief. It's made me shut down and refrain from using my voice. I commended each and every man and woman that took part in sharing their story in this book regardless of their circumstance or how difficult it was to share their story. I think that one of the things that stood out the most to me in reading this book was the familiarity of the names of the individuals that shared their stories. Popular authors, authors that I have enjoyed described in detail how their autonomy of their bodies was stripped from them. It made me realize how many women and men have gone through the same trauma that I have. It didn't make me feel better about my circumstances, but it made me realize that this is too prevalent. So prevalent that it makes me wonder about the experiences my own daughter will have and that as her mother I will do anything and I mean anything to protect her.
There isn't anything to discuss in terms of plot because this is a non-fiction book. I instantly knew that I was going to rate the book five stars because you can't really put a "price" on the value of the bravery of these women and men. However, I will give a few trigger warnings for this book. It does include descriptions of sexual assault, rape, incest, and domestic violence. What this book does well is reinforce the principle that sexual assault looks different in every experience, but neither is more or less traumatic than the other. There are stories in which these writers were assaulted by teachers, friends, family, and strangers, but no matter who was behind the assault they all had to deal with some form of trauma. I don't think this is a book that I will ever read again and it isn't a book that I would define as "good." However, I do believe that this book is important and it is necessary that as many people pick it up as possible.
Janet Gurtler is a Rita finalist whose young adult
books have been chosen for the JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD SELECTION and as BEST BOOKS
FOR TEENS from the Canadian Children’s Book Center. Janet lives in Calgary
Alberta, Canada with her husband, son, a chubby black Chihuahua named Bruce and
a Golden Retriever named Betty White.
You can find and contact Janet Gurtler here:
Giveaway Details: Enter the Rafflecopter below to win a finished copy of the book!
No comments:
Post a Comment