By Jodene Wylie
I had been eager to read this book long before it was set for release in April of this year. A combined effort from Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell and Katie Cotugno (Fireworks, Top Ten and a host of other great young adult lit) comes this wonderful exploration and awakening of youthful feminism.
If you were to glance at the back of the book you would have a clear grasp on the topics to be covered:
Remember, Girls: Put a little colour on your face. Shave your legs. Don’t wear too much makeup…..Don’t be a doormat, but God, don’t be bossy. Be chill. Be easygoing. Act like one of the guys. Don’t actually act like one of the guys. Be a feminist. Support the sisterhood. Don’t be easy…..But calm down! Don’t worry so much. You can do anything! You can be whatever you want to be! Just don’t forget to smile!”
Oh, the never-ending, perpetuating, rules applied to the female gender. Bushnell and Cotugno really nailed it on the head with this one. Rules for Girls follows Marin throughout her last year of high school as she prepares to head off to college and start the next stage of her life. Her life looks a certain way, which is to say that she’s following all the implied rules with the right friends, the right boyfriend, the never-miss-a-class and strong academics, and so on. Needless to say, and without spoiling some major plot twists, life doesn’t stay this way for Marin.
This book is an awakening for Marin who offers a fresh and relatable voice and conscience for teens to read. Her character, through a series of events, is shocked into the injustices that surround women, the difficulty in having your voice heard, and the challenges that must be faced to evoke change.
A wonderful feature to this book is the in-school feminist book club that is formed. Bushnell and Cotugno waste no time in sharing a plenitude of books, articles, music, and films that have their roots (and message) in feminism. While they praise many of these texts, they don’t shy away from calling some of the pieces boring which adds a realness to this young adult fiction. Not every book is a winner for everyone, after all. It also offers readers the option to explore some of these other works which is a nice addition to this book.
In truth, while this book opens up conversations on a number of topics, it is at its heart a great young adult novel: There are struggles with friends, various love interests, the fears of future education, and some sweet family dynamics particularly with Marin’s Gram. This book has it all.
I encourage you to dive in and read it. Read this book for yourself, send it to a teen in your life, and treasure it. It’s a good one!
*Thank you to Harper Collins Canada for this book