XVI is not a feminist novel.

I’m opening my review with this caveat because, as someone who owns a dog-eared copy of The Feminine Mystique, whose heroes are Margaret Atwood and Ursula Le Guin, and who has, at times, stopped shaving her armpits (sometimes one just can’t be bothered), accounts of feminist content in Julia Karr’s debut were definitely a selling point for me.

The initial premise of XVI make it sound as if it has feminist potential. In the near-future, girls are allowed to have sex on More...

This book was absurdly bad. It really was. Everything about it just bit. Oh, and don't be fooled, gentle readers; this is not a deconstruction of the sexualization of women in media. No, this is a virginity indoctrinating, weirdly preachy meandering mess. Of the hot variety.

I won't say much about it, only this: according to this book, you're a whore. You're all whores. Unless you're chaste like Nina, that is. Then you're not a godforsaken terrible whore. Then you're clean. But if you're like San More...

I’ve felt this book kind of special. I think because it’s like in the real life. Well, maybe today the girls don’t get this tattoos , but they really behave like “sex-teens”.

I wasn’t sure about this book. I think the ideea of teenagers like “sex teens” made me read it, because it’s a near future. In XVI, Media controls the teens, and in the real life also. Maybe not so much, but definitely Media has power over them.

I can't say I had big expectations about this book but it surprised me.Well, it c More...

SEX SEX SEX! The dystopia of tomorrow is obsessed with sex! The Media popularizes sex, tattoos shout sexual availability, and every girl is automatically eligible for an FeLS program that is all about--you guessed it--sex!

Aldous Huxley introduced the sexual dystopia with Brave New World. The first is still the best. Karr's dystopia serves as little more than an abstinence lecture wrapped up as YA fiction. In fact, her story could be a checklist of the abstinence movement's messages:

1. Teenagers More...

Weak. This could be something I can write up and man, I cannot write.
The obsession with dystopian novels at the moment is causing "authors" to come up with works that they will regret.

Some of my favourite dystopias are The GONE series by Michael Grant and The Chaos Walking Series by Patrick Ness.

I waffled between a 2 and 3 on this. It was an interesting premise, a world where teenage girls are super-sexualized and women have less power than they do overall in 2011. I would've liked the role of women explored more. And there really was much more thought than action. When something did happen, it was over in a flash. Then back to Nina worrying. Or people talking about what there was to worry about.

Nina is on the verge of turning 16, when girls are free to have sex. Or be asked to have sex More...

This book gave me goosebumps at times, because it is just so frighteningly plausible. It's our same culture, just more extreme, with the media more powerful, a 1984-esque world masquerading as fake fun, fashion, flirtation.

There were some cool science fiction features, such as the Infinity Machine. And some very powerful writing:

I sat at the window and drew the shapes of the buildings outside. Rectangles and squares stacked side by side and up to the sky. Neat, orderly, controllable. The compl More...

I hate giving a book with such a great idea only one star, but honestly, aside from the idea, there wasn’t a single aspect of the book I liked – it was executed very badly, and the plot was overdramatic and clichéd.

For one thing, there just weren’t enough explanations for the reader to really understand the world Nina lived in – we never find out how it was possible for society to change so drastically. The reader got plenty of information and explanations about minor things like how they don’t More...

The premise was interesting and characters and plot had potential, but the potential was never reached because the writing was just BAD. About fifty pages in, something awful happened in Nina's life and I should have felt her pain, but I didn't. A lot of it had to do with the way the author worded things. Sometimes I would think, "If only she had worded this sentence this way, then it would have been so much more impactful." Also, she did something that I've been tirelessly teaching myself not t More...

Wow. This book is really, really complex. The plot is so good. Zarr did such a good job writing this book to make it look like Nina had no way to make all the problems right, but I was really impressed with how she did it.

When I started reading it I thought, Wow, I'm not going to like this book very much, because Zarr came up with all these new abbreviations for everything, like PAVs and feLS, I had no idea what they were. But as the story progressed and grew I finally figured them out and start More...

I am now, more than ever, convinced that dystopian is my new favorite genre. I haven't read that many books of this kind, but those that I did managed to wow me. XVI is no different. I was a bit scared to read this book given the touchy subject the author focuses on. Books like that have a tendency to turn ridiculous rather than being deep and thought provoking. Though there were a few silly moments (not the good kind of silly), most of the book was simply amazing and I easily overlooked the not More...

Dystopian lovers rejoice: Julia Karr's XVI marks the start of a wave of 2011 releases in the genre. Her debut novel is reminiscent of the classic novels 1984 by George Orwell and The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. XVI features a strong feminist viewpoint and a look at where our society could be headed.

The novel takes place in Chicago during the year 2150. On their sixteenth birthday when they become "legal," (Get it? "XVI?"), the government requires girls to get a special tattoo on their wr More...

To begin, I have to say that I was a little bit hesitant on reading XVI and I don't see why because the book was just wonderful! Julia Karr is a great writer. In XVI, she created a whole knew dystopian world filled with gadgets and uber vocabulary!

XVI is set in Chicago, in the year 2150. In this futuristic world, the government as we know it has been brought down and know the society is run by a Governing Counsel. The GC is pretty much your typical dystopian government. They are very secretive a More...

The book is described as "Nina is 15. And like all girls she'll receive a Governing Council ordered tattoo on her 16th birthday. XVI. Those three letters will be branded on her wrist, announcing to all the world - even the most predatory of men that she is ready for sex. Considered easy prey by some, portrayed by the Media as sluts who ask for attacks, becoming a "sex-teen" is Nina's worst fear. That is, until right before her birthday, when Nina's mom is brutally attacked. With her dying breath More...

Dystopians either hook me or leave me hanging. Both The Hunger Games and Unwind terrified me and made my heart ache. The Uglies trilogy irked and annoyed me. Matched bored me. Thus, coming into XVI, I had to wonder: would this be on the high scale of dystopian (a la The Hunger Games) or the low scale (a la Matched)? I'm glad I took the gamble: this book had me hooked and sunk into the depths of its pages and plot.

In the 22nd century, sixteen has become the age of no limits for girls; now popular More...

I was born in the 80s, I grew up in the 90s, when the media market image of girls became the most sexualized it’s ever been. Flashbacks of CNN debates about the oversexing of the “desired” female image in the west came to mind when I started reading this book – not that that’s a a bad thing. This book paints a picture of what our future may be if we keep going the way we’re going.

I have to say – for a debut, I was floored by the sheer balls that Karr has for even bringing up this issue, much les More...

My Thoughts: I have been reading more and more dystopian books lately huh? We are introduced to Nina who is 15 years old and fast approaching her 16 or sex-teen birthday. What does this mean? It means that basically any guy who wants to, can take advantage of her without any real rules or punishment and she can do what she basically wants sexwise. There is no law that says she can't. Most girls are looking forward to turning 16, including her best friend, because it signifies being grown up. The More...

Nina is fifteen and dreading her sixteenth birthday. When young women turn sixteen, they get a XVI tattoo on their wrist to announce to the world that they're legal, and that means any man can have them and they can have any man. Nina is determined not to fall for the licentious advertisements glorifying the wonders of being a sex-teen.

Nina's mom is attacked. On her deathbed she lets loose a revelation that Nina is compelled to investigate. Family secrets and a community of nonconformists unfol More...

It wasn't a book I would recommend. I think that the concept was there, but it just wasn't accomplished. The book, in my opinion, jumped so many times that I had a problem keeping up with some parts. I also dont think that things were thoroughly explained like they should have been, and there were too many abbreviations. I love reading dystopian books, but I find that this book was one that didn't quite reach expectations. The writing quality wasn't all that great and like I said, the concept ju More...

Oh, man, XVI was... strange.

I had a really good time reading this book. It's about 330 pages, but it definitely flies by. There are no slow parts in this story. There's a lot of action, a huge serving of tension, and a nice little mystery tucked in for good measure. I immensely enjoyed Nina's character; if I'm honest, I loved all the characters. XVI is a dystopian story, set in the year 2150 (I believe). While I really, really, liked the book, I did have some qualms with it, but we'll get to th More...

XVI Review for GoodReads

(Long re-cap on my LJ, here: http://karataratakus.livejournal.com/... )

Okay, srs bizness hat time, guys... I actually thought long and hard about giving this book two GoodReads stars instead of my usual one. It was just that much of an improvement in quality from the usual.

But, though it had a coherent plot and more thought put into it than the usual... I could also see the author had the potential to do so much better. That waste brings the story back down to a one, and More...

The authors purpose in writing this book is to let people understand what teenagers are going through. The author Julia Roberts explains some of the adversity teenagers go through and talks about how they react to what society expects from them. Sixteen talks about exactly what teenagers are going through in our society today and their attitudes towards sex, drugs and their attitudes towards the opposite sex. The book was written to give everyone especially the younger generation an idea of how More...

XVI by Julia Karr, describes how the world has become nothing less than a dystopian society, taking place in the year 2150. Nina, is about to turn 16; but unlike all of the other girls her age, she is dreading her 16th birthday. In the world now, when a girl turns sixteen, she is considered a complete adult and is forced to allow their bodies to be controlled and taken advantage of. While Nina is preparing herself for the day she turns sixteen , one day her life is flipped upside down when she d More...

Nina ist about to turn 16 in a consumerist society dictated by the media. When she turns „sex-teen“, as the book calls it, she'll be branded with a tattoo on her wrist that makes her fair game for every guy who wants her, and apparently it's something every girl in this society is supposed to look forward to. Nina, however, doesn't, and when her mom dies, she's getting involved with the „Non-Cons“ her mom was a part of, rebels who are trying to change the world.

First of: The premise just didn't More...

This novel has an interesting concept, the plot was vey unique and different, but was executed very poorly. One of the main problems within the fundamentals of this novel is the lack of prologue, or history of how Nina’s world came to be. She explains the minor things such as how they don’t use oil anymore, and there was slight mention of the Great War that changed the world, but nothing more. There was also no mention to why her world became so obsessed with objectifying women and “sex”.
Julia K More...

This is one of my favorite books of all time!!

It's the story of a teen girl in a future version of the US where every girl has to get a tattoo that says XVI on her wrist when she turns 16. Society is even more stratified by class than it is now, with people actually being designated at certain tiers. There are few ways to escape the tier you are born in to. Once a girl turns 16, she is basically considered fair game for sexual assault, even if it turns into murder. There is a group of people cal More...