Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston

"Hermione Winters has been a flyer. She's been captain of her cheerleading team. The envied girlfriend and undisputed queen of her school. Now it's her last year and those days and those labels are fading fast. In a few months, she'll be a different person. She thinks she's ready for whatever comes next.
But then someone puts something in her drink at a party, and in an instant she finds herself wearing new labels, ones she never imagined: Victim. Survivor. That raped girl.
Even though this was never the future she imagined, one essential thing remains the unchanged: Hermione can still call herself Polly Olivier's best friend, and that may be the truest label of all.
Heartbreaking and empowering, Exit, Pursued by a Bear is the story of transcendent friendship in the face of trauma." (book jacket)

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What  I really liked about Exit, Pursued by a Bear was that E.K. Johnston was not graphic in talking about Hermione's rape. One moment things fade to black the next moment she wakes up in an emergency exam room with her best friend and a nurse. She wakes up disoriented with holes in her memory of what happened to her. I also like that the book doesn't open up with a rape. You meet Hermione and get a peek into her life, cheer camp and her squad before we get to the party that changes her life.

The aftermath of the rape is the central focus of the book, what Hermione remembers and how she handles the changes and surprises that come her way. From realizing that the DNA evidence was compromised because of where she was found and knowing every boy on her squad was a suspect to those same boys volunteering to give DNA samples to help solve her rape, Hermione learns a lot about herself, her best friend and her squad.

I like that E.K. Johnston gave Hermione her best friend, Polly. Polly was able to be a grounding force in Hermione's life. She had Hermione's back at every moment and I can only hope that I have a friend as amazing as Polly.

Asking for It by Louise O'Neill

"Emma O'Donovan is eighteen, beautiful, and fearless. It's the beginning of summer in a quiet Irish town and tonight she and her friends have dressed to impress. Everyone is at the big party, but all eyes are on Emma.

The next morning, Emma's parents discover her in a heap on the doorstep of their home, unconscious. She is disheveled, bleeding and disoriented, looking as if she had been dumped there in a hurry. She remembers nothing from the party.

That day several devastating photos from the party are posted online and go viral, eventually launching a criminal investigation and sending the community in to tumult. The media descends, neighbors choose sides, and people from all over the world want to talk about her story.

Emma's life has been changed forever by an unthinkable and all-too-common act of sexual violence, and all she wants is to disappear." (jacket cover)

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Louise O'Neill has written a brilliant novel about the aftermath of intoxication and rape in a way that was desperately needed. Emma's story sadly is not unique. In the aftermath of her rape, she remembers having sex with someone at a party, but nothing much until her parents find her passed out on the porch. Emma's downward spiral officially starts when she gets to school and her friends turn their back on her. It's during a conversation with her friends that Emma realizes 4 different boys had sex with her, and she only knew of 1 of them. When photos and video of what happened at the party surface on Facebook, Emma is approached by Ms. McCarthy, she has to confront what has been done to her and the steps she will need to follow to find her way again. Not only does Emma have to confront her attack, she has to watch her story unfold in international news. 

Too often rape victims are treated as pariah and blamed for what has been done to them. The victims often have to defend themselves in not only a court room but in the court of social opinion. Often victims are accussed of ruining their attackers lives if they tell what happened. Much like in the case of Rapist Brock Turner. The attacker had glowing character witnesses a sparkly clean photo shown in the press, everything to insure that he was innocent until proven guilty; while his victim (even though nameless in the media) had accusations thrown around about her character. Emma's life was left in shambles after her attack, her reputation in ruins, but her rapists, the community rallied around them. Far too often this occurs in today's society. Far too often we, as a society, protect the rapist instead of the rape victim. It needs to stop.

Louise O'Neill chose a realistic ending to her novel that while it left me empty inside because it's not all wrapped up like I would like, it's true to the narrative of Emma's story and the narrative of so many victims/survivors. O'Neill's book is a great way to continue if not START a conversation on sexual assault and rape and maybe a way to instead of teaching our daughters (and sons) not to be raped, maybe start teaching others not to be rapist.