Ok let’s talk about this book I read.
Hahaha. That’s hilarious. This is a book blog; how often is it that I talk
about anything else?
Anyhow. The Exact Opposite of Okay is Laura
Steven’s debut and it’s been getting a lot of attention, for more reasons I
suspect than it’s incredibly lush cover. I mean sure, that’s what caught my eye
but not everybody is as much of a book magpie as I am, I know this. The point
is, this book has been generating a lot of buzz since last year and its not
even published until March and hello this is me we’re talking about here:
obviously I wanted to get right on that bandwagon.
I’m super glad that
I did. For sure.
There’s a lot of YA
out there at the moment that’s tackling The Bigger Things and I am so glad. Words are important and books
are important and growing up can be hard guys
and it’s so important to tell these kinds of stories, stories that are
relatable to – that make you feel less alone – and that tackle things like
racism and sexism and homophobia and all the other things that are wrong with
this still ever so fucked up world (yikes, that’s swearing), stories that are diverse
and relevant and that have a message that we need to think about and act upon.
Let’s tell these stories where it counts you know – let’s aim them at the
people wo really have a chance to make a difference to the future because they are the future (and also people like me
who still unashamedly read all the YA fiction aged 34 and 9/12).
The Exact Opposite of Okay is one of those books. IT’S SO IMPORTANT
GUYS, REALLY. & it’s relevant and yet relatable to also. It tackles
slut-shaming and misogyny and revenge
porn and victim-blaming and double standards and all of these things that really
are not talked about enough, and you know what else it is? It is sex positive
in a way I’m not sure I’ve seen before, not in books of this genre and perhaps
not really ever and I loved that about it.
Let’s talk about how
sex is a thing that it is absolutely ok to be having lots of if that’s what you
want to be doing even if you are *gasp* a girl and if having sex is a thing you
enjoy and a thing you do want to have
lots of then *high five* and that is a thing that needs to be talked about because there’s still such a cloud
over it, it’s still such a taboo and it is still
– even when you’re grown up – very much seen as a Thing For Men, like being
a girl that likes sex is a thing that shouldn’t be talked about.
The Exact Opposite of Okay turns all of
that on its head and it made me happy.
It's been described
as a feminist firecracker and I think
it actually kind of might be.
So what exactly is it about you may ask.
I shall tell you.
It’s about Izzy. Izzy is a teenager. She wants to
be a screenwriter, she lives with her Grandmother (her parents were both killed
in an accident when she was small), and spends most of her time hanging out
with her two best friends. And she likes sex.
When compromising
photos of her are leaked, via a spiteful website set up anonymously, online,
everything starts to fall apart – it is the
exact opposite of okay and Izzy finds herself sort of caught: she’s not
ashamed of who she is and what she does but that doesn’t mean she wants her
naked photos on the internet either and it’s hard to be comfortable in your own
skin when whispers of ‘whore’ follow you wherever you go. It’s ainful to read
sometimes because IZZY HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG. She had sex with two boys – both
of age and both consenting – and she placed her trust in the wrong place and in
what world does that make her deserving of what follows? Well, in this world apparently
and isn’t that just the worst?
Steven
has done an excellent job in making Izzy funny and clever, headstrong and
brave, awkward and loyal and vulnerable – she’s made her a regular teenager; I
think everybody who reads this book will recognise a piece of themselves in
Izzy and somehow that makes the injustices she faces hit harder. Izzy’s just a
regular kid. It’s the very definition of unfair.
These things happen
though don’t they? They happen every day and sure not always to these extremes
, but still, girls all over will be called a slut and then have to watch as
guys are fist-bumped and celebrated for the exact same things that they’re
being bullied for; or they’ll be called a pricktease if they don’t want to go
too far, or if they dress in a certain way and don’t want to do anything at all
(damned if you do, damned if you don’t and ain’t that the truth because it
seems to be an age old thing, it was the same when I was at school and it’s the
same now – girls fall into one of two categories, you’re either a slut or
you’re frigid and the real killer? Both of those things are derogatory); or they’ll
get their bra straps pinged or boys will look up their skirts like it’s their
right and they’ll be subjected to comment after comment based purely on their
appearance and they’ll be forced to just accept it because that’s just how it
is. Boys will be boys and we still
live in the dark ages where people still act like all of this is okay.
Spoiler alert: no.
Laura Steven
challenges all of this in a way that makes sense, in a way that makes you sit
up and take note, in a way that makes you realise that whilst this is a work of
fiction, this stuff is happening everywhere all of the time and it is the exact opposite of okay and I just
think that is so so important. The Scarlet Letter was written in the 1800’s
oh my God. How is this even still a thing?
It also really
tackles the whole Entitled White Guy trope and the very idea of The Friend Zone.
Seriously, it is such a long time since I felt such disdain for a character
because there’s a boy in this book who is such an absolute asshat. Wow, I hate him
so hard. So again with the not shying away from the important issues: everyone
knows an entitled white guy amirite? That guy that thinks you owe him something
because he was nice to you, or because you were nice to him. Everyone knows
him, and everyone wants to tell him to do one and I love how this is handled in
this book. I love it.
Also Izzy’s best
friend Ajita? IS AMAZING. That is all.
The book is written
as a series of blog posts by Izzy that she’s complied into a book after the
fact, with little notes added by Izzy as she goes through afterwards and edits
which I liked a lot for the most part and whilst it’s tackling some pretty
heavy subjects, it never makes you feel bogged down. It’s refreshingly honest
and it made me so angry and sometimes also pretty sad but you know another thing?
It made me laugh. It would be good, I think, to get this book on school
curriculums – this book has a message that needs spreading far and wide and it
should be read, not just by girls so that they know that THEY DID NOTHING WRONG
but also by boys, so they check themselves before they share that nude or throw
a temper tantrum because that girl who’s being nice to them doesn’t actually
want to have sex with them. It’s a conversation that should be had, I think, at
that level and it would make for interesting classroom debate.
So, what did I not
like? I pretty much liked it all actually,
although, and I AM SO TOTALLY NIT PICKING HERE, the book is set in America but
Laura Steven is a Brit and sometimes that felt pretty obvious. I mean I get it
had to be set in America due to revenge porn being illegal in the UK, but
still, Izzy felt British to me, there was dialogue and the odd turn of phrase
and certain references that felt very English and at odds with the American
setting and occasionally that jarred a little. I wonder if Americans reading
the story would notice in the same way? Not a criticism as such, but an
observation. I also maybe found Izzy’s constant humour a little too much
sometimes, I get it’s who she is and I
understand where it comes from but sometimes it didn’t ring true and certainly
at the start of the book it felt a little try-hard. it did fade out a little as
the story developed but you know, it was a thing that I noticed. Those are the
most minor of things though in a book that I really hope is going to go places.
It’s a strong debut and I liked it a whole lot.
It's published in March
AND!!!!! Laura is offering an exclusive chapter to anybody who pre-orders soyou know, do yourself a favour and get on that.
