Before I left the house this morning, I decided I would read a book in the car on the way to work. Not listen to an audiobook or read whatever I have downloaded onto my Kindle, but a book with pages that turn manually. Between fingers. I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve done that.

Be forewarned, this one deals with tough issues. (Consider this your trigger warning.)

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https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.jsAll the Rage was on the top of my stack, literally. The story sucked me in so quickly that I ignored my carpool the majority of the hour-long trip and finished half the story before we parked. Basic premise: Romy Grey was raped by the son of her town’s powerful family. His mother runs the auto shop and and his father is the sheriff. At this point, Romy is the town’s pariah for having spoken out about what happened. No one believed her. Now everyone bullies her. She’s dealing with this by escaping to the diner where she works. No one knows her there – not who her family is, not her history. When another girl goes missing, and when her two worlds collide, she’s not sure how to navigate the convergence.

As I said, I was engaged from the start. I was really interested to see how the issues would play out. However, I found myself irritated at Romy’s parents (who seemed to be rather attentive) for not suggesting therapy as a form of working on the issues she clearly was trying to (or trying not to, as the case may be) work through.

I also didn’t understand the point of the trucker who pseudo-stalked Romy. He appears in the parking lot, then in the diner where he gives her his phone number. I get her destructive tendency – why she chose to call and meet him – but he felt a little contrived. He provided Romy with the opportunity she needed to discover the missing girl’s scooter. Clearly, this is nagging at me, as nitpicky as it is.

Needless to say, I enjoyed the ride. I have a few students who are knee-deep in Sarah Darer Littman’s books right now, and I think Courtney Summers will be an awesome next step for them.

#bookaday All the Rage by Courtney Summers. Tough and engaging. Speaking out is challenging enough without being labeled a pariah. The only part I didn’t get was the trucker. Felt like a red herring. #stickynotereviews #bookstagram #read #yalit

A photo posted by Eli (@thebooksupplier) on Nov 8, 2015 at 10:07am PST

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