CY@CY Says Welcome to my dreamscape. Where a Lim is also a Ling.
Amy Reed’s The Nowhere Girls casts the spotlight on rape culture as three misfits come together to take a stand against the societal unfairness to victims of rape and to seek justice for victims of sexual assaults. It is is an indictment of rape culture and explores with bold honesty the deepest questions about teen girls and sexuality and a call-to-action to everyone out there who wants to fight back.
The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed
Grace Salter is the new girl in town, whose family was run out of their former community because of her southern Baptist preacher mom.
Rosina Suarez is the lesbian girl in a conservative Mexican immigrant family, who dreams of a life as a rock singer instead of babysitting her cousins and waitressing at her uncle’s restaurant.
Erin Delillo is obsessed with two things: marine biology and Star Trek: The Next Generation, but she has serious issues in coping with her Asperger’s.
When Grace moves into her new home, she discovers that its former inhabitant, a girl named Lucy Moynihan, was run out of town for accusing a group of popular boys at school of gang rape. Justice has evaded Lucy as none of the boys she accused of raping her was charged. With the help of Rosina Suarez and Erin Delillo, she decides to unite an anonymous group of girls at Prescott High known as The Nowhere Girls to rally against misogyny, rapists, and the power structures that protect both.
The Nowhere Girls is dark and graphic, encapsulating the struggles felt by teenagers and young women in dealing with sexual assault, rape, and violence against women. It exposes the very real and very toxic men’s right advocate/activist culture (MRAs). The MRA culture is a deep online culture where men discuss how to pick up and yes, how to rape, women. This book is painful to read but it’s also inspiring and empowering. Towards the end, I can’t help being caught up in the struggle of the Nowhere Girls and rooting for them to find justice. We do get a peek at how the rape victims Lucy and Cheyenne are doing at the very end making everything feel worthwhile.