You against Me by Jenny Downham

Hardcover, 413 pages

Published December 2nd 2010 by David Fickling Books

ISBN

0385613504 (ISBN13: 9780385613507)

edition language

English

original title

You Against Me

 

If someone hurts your sister and you're any kind of man, you seek revenge, right? If your brother's been accused of a terrible crime and you're the main witness, then you banish all doubt and defend him. Isn't that what families do? When Mikey's sister claims a boy assaulted her at a party, his world of work and girls begins to fall apart. When Ellie's brother is charged with the crime, but says he didn't do it, her world of revision, exams and fitting in at a new school begins to unravel. When Mikey and Ellie meet, two worlds collide. Brave and unflinching, this is a novel of extraordinary skillfulness and almost unbearable tension. It's a book about loyalty and the choices that come with it. But above all it's a book about love - for one's family and for another

My Review
Jenny downham is the Jodi picoult for young adults. She writes stories based on real like topics that others would consider perhaps taboo and far too mature. But Jenny utters the truth to the readers, showing her how things are done. She does not cover it up with fiction, but instead gives you the facts of how everything works and for me that is a way to capture the readers attention. Her books teach her readers a few lessons here and there, showing them the functions of society, the way in which procedures are carried out and how such things can harm a person. But not only this, she captures her readers hearts and emotions by drawing them into the story so that they become one of the characters a well, perhaps a friend of the characters.

I felt that in many ways she displayed her characters well, the girl who had been raped was the one to afraid to run outside again, the family of the criminal sticking up for their son like any family would do. And yet the whole time you know that something is occuring, that there is more than meets the eyes out there in the words. Because a rape is never just words, and when a girl states that she has been raped it may not often be a lie, so you have to wonder what really occured and who really knows the detail.

What I liked about this novel was the fact that the author took you on the journey to become a detective to discover what occured. She gives the readers the imaginative depth to really piece the puzzle together and by doing this she allows you to see that sometimes there is something in the background that could have happened, that sometimes we forget things because we want to protect those that we are close to. It is a very powerful and moving write that truly drew me in. Jenny Downham has become one of favorite authors and I will be happy to read any of her novels.

My rating