This fall, I am participating in the Courtney Summers Read-Along, hosted by Ciara at Lost at Midnight Reviews (details on the read-along are here) and today, I am excited to finally jump in and talk about Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers – or at least up until page 181 of the book!

Some Girls Are Page Breakdown
Week One: Page 1 – 61 (Discussion Post here)
Week Two: Page 62 – 124 (Discussion Post here)
Week Three: Page 125 – 181 (Discussion Post here)
Week Four: 182 – the end (Discussion Post next week)

Below the cover photo of Some Girls Are, I have created a discussion question of my own but right here I want to address the previous discussion posts I linked above. I had no idea what this book was about before going into it. After reading This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers, I put Summers on my auto-buy list, so whatever she writes, I will read, no questions asked. I dove right into this one with zero clue at all the amount of mental and emotional distress I was about to be put under. You can read the synopsis of the book here.

Some Girls Are slayed me. I knew it would because the writing style is addictive and you can’t stop turning the pages until you’re done but also because Courtney Summers knows her characters. We know these characters. More than any of us would like to admit but we do. And Summers has a way of laying it all out on the page in the most vulnerable of ways.

Some Girls Are is raw. Disturbing, as Ciara mentioned in the first discussion post. These characters are unlikable or neither unlikable or likable. I can’t thank Summers enough for writing these characters. I am SO SICK of reading likable, inhuman characters that no matter how different they claim or dare I say strive to be, they’re all still stuck in some box. Not here. I don’t know about you but I’m broken. Fiction needs a fraction of a cracked sidewalk too. I’m so tired of pretty. This book is so far from pretty. Thank you, Summers. Thank you.

Ciara also touched upon the power of silence in the first discussion post, to that I also thank Summers. This story would have been like any other had someone stood up for Regina or she stood up for herself early on, as chance after chance was given for such a stand. No one wants to talk about the silence. Silence is grim. But Courtney Summers writes about it and that’s why this book is so significant. Courtney Summers, you didn’t forget me. That’s what I was thinking throughout the book. You didn’t forget me. The silent ones. We’re all silent for so many different reasons and lengths of time and so many different stories never see the light of day because…silence. But she didn’t forget you.

As for Anna and Kara? Yep. I definitely wanted to strangle them. I loved how you put it Ciara, Kara may not be the mastermind behind these attacks, but she gives Anna her power. Everyone in that school, as a matter of fact, gives Anna her power. By saying nothing. By doing nothing. Ain’t that the truth. Inaction is just as powerful as action.

In first grade, I bullied a boy to feel what it felt like to have power since I felt utterly useless and powerless at home. I had no ill feelings towards the boy. It wasn’t about him. It was about me and what I thought I needed. That all ended after a parent teacher conference a few weeks later but I share that to say I can only imagine what Anna and Kara’s home lives are like for them to be so incredibly cruel elsewhere. That said, these girls aren’t six or seven bossing a boy around, they’re teenagers (who think they’re invincible) putting rotting meat in someone’s locker. They really, truly know ALL that they’re doing and continue to do it anyway. It’s about what they want, they’ve chosen a target…and carefully. I don’t know how people can be so cruel. I’ll have to ask my sister who’s studying forensic psychology. Until then, I don’t know. As for Michael, he’s got issues too but he’s willing to work through them as drama free as possible and you’ve got to love the kid for that.

As for points made during the week two discussion? Since I’ve said so much already, all I have to say is I absolutely loved the scene when Regina’s mother accompanied her to school for a meeting. What a perfect example of what goes on every single day with millions, billions of kids. Regina’s mother and Hallowell High are so oblivious to what’s going on right under their noises and both need to put more time and effort into being more vigilant on all matters, not just the bullying. Also, at this point, while I can see Liz being friends with Regina again later down the road, I’d rather they not be friends again. I’d rather they move on and leave their history in high school. And um, stopping at page 181?! Really, Ciara?! What a cliffhanger! My God!

As for my discussion question I would like to pose for those who have read up to page 181 of Some Girls Are… On page 164, Summers writes, “Some people will never give up on their lack of belief in you.” In this moment, Regina is referring to Liz not having faith in Regina but could this also apply to Anna and Kara vs. everybody else?

I’d like to hope so. I hope Anna and Kara don’t see the justice, karma, whatever you’d like to call it, coming their way whether it be in the final pages of the book or later in life. I hope their lack of belief in others surprises them more than the shock of Regina slapping Anna. I think this line applies to so many different threads of the story, Anna and Kara vs. everybody else being one of them. No harm wished upon Anna and Kara however this bind up of Some Girls Are and Cracked Up To Be is called What Goes Around. So.

Stay tuned for my review of Some Girls Are next week and my delayed response to last month’s selection, Cracked Up To Be the week after!

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers is available now.