Steph’s review of Fault Line > Likes and Comments

I have come to a realisation that YA drama are holding some real important issues, they seem to reach into ur soul, u may may a wide variety of content in one book, happiness and suffering, love and longing, victims and survivors, the treatment of some really bad issues in society, the lightening on mistakes, they make me cry so hard, i mean who talk about ya must not have read slammed, or the storyteller, salvation, stolen, those books that managed to make me laugh, cry, get frustrated and then get depressed over the issue for a day or so.. those books are gems i love them, they speak to ur heart...

"But they are only a distraction from the real issue, because victim-blaming serves only one purpose: it takes the blame away from the one person who deserves it the most, the rapist."

Thank you, thank you, thank you for that. Some of the reviews I've read have been alarming in that they've been exhibiting standard victim blaming behaviors re: Ani.

This is not a book I think I can handle personally but I'm glad to see this topic being addressed and presented in such a "real" way. And, again, thank you for standing against victim blaming. It's so encouraging to see.

Excellent review, Steph!

"As a community and society, we generally suck when it comes to crimes against women and seeking justice for victims." I could not agree more and I'm glad that you called all out the issue of victim blaming in your review, and how insidious and pervasive it is.

This sounds like a tough book, but a very important one. Thanks for writing this.

Great review!

I agree, I believe I fall under the camp that enjoyed this one a lot, although it took several days of thinking before I decided on a rating, and even then I wasn't 100% sure about it.

Thanks, guys. It was a tough book to read, but I'm glad I did. I hope it makes its way into the hands of more teens. This issue deserves more awareness because it happens too often. :(

Excellent review, Steph.

I'm wondering if the reader is never told explicitly that she was raped because the goal of the author is to leave it ambiguous so that it's more realistic (since in real life it's always his-story vs. her-story and whatever facts they have to back them up)?

I'm also wondering what your definition of "victim-blaming" is because that's a term I didn't learn until I joined GR.
I ask that because sometimes it seems like people are called victim-blamers if they make a statement like "The attack probably could have been avoided if..."

Obviously, nothing a woman says, does, or wears gives anyone the right to violate her. So if someone points out that choosing to down alcohol or drugs or whatever you voluntarily did to mess with your inhibitions and decision-making skills was a bad idea or going of with strangers to a secluded place was a bad idea, does that automatically mean they're blaming you for the violation?

We know that perpetrators are the ones who are responsible for a crime. But why does that excuse/erase bad choices? Why can't all things be true?

Thanks, Amber.

Yes, the author did purposefully leave it ambiguous. You should browse her blog. It's pretty awesome.

Victim-blaming is when you start placing blame for what happened to the victim on the victim, detracting the crime from the perpetrator. It can be mentioning her clothes or alcohol consumption or anything else.

Of course there are sometimes bad decisions, but that is not the REASON for the attack. The blame should always remain with the person who initiated the attack. In the end, those decisions that anyone makes are only variables and are only heavily examined after a crime is committed.

I think we tend to sometimes look at crimes as black or white. It's easier to demonize a stranger attacking a women in an alley. It becomes harder for some to sympathize with a women who's drunk. Because when we start saying things like, "Oh, well, maybe she shouldn't have..." it's like we are saying she put herself in that situation, that she was asking for it. And the *only* person who puts a victim in that situation is a rapist.

This is why we have laws that indicate that if you are drunk or drugged, you are not legally able to give consent.

I like the title Fault Line a lot better then what the author originally called it....

Enjoyed your review!

Megan wrote: "I like the title Fault Line a lot better then what the author originally called it....

Enjoyed your review!"

I do too. Manhole and Trainwreck don't have the same ring to it as Fault Line.

Thanks!

Outstanding review, Steph, and you've done justice to what seems to be a very important book. I suspect it will end up on a Banned Books list somewhere for having "sexual content" and that's a shame because every young girl needs to read it so she'll be more aware. I think young guys should be reading it, too, and maybe Ben's role as narrator will prompt some to do so.

After I read your review I decided that it was worth a try. I have already read a book that was of rape, but it was told from the point of view of the girl that was raped, and now i want to read this because of the fact is from anther point of view.

I haven't read it but your review alone is thought provoking and something everyone should read.

Thank you! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!

I agree with Natalie. Thank you for this review. I rarely read books like this, but it's good to. I'm already shook up, but I believe this read will be worth-while and educating.

I so agree with you. I was reading some of the comments below yours and I got really mad at what the people were saying like. "It was just a drunk mistake." As if she wanted to be raped. Rape can't be asked for it says it in the description of rape. I loved this book it and the truth is it isn't what the author writes that's going to change you it's how you're going to take it.