Not long ago, one of my editors asked me which book I thought every sixteen-year-old should read. I immediately replied: Asking for It, Kate Harding's feminist analysis of "rape culture" in the U.S. Inflicting a 259-page book upon the nation's youth that, among other things, details some of the most heinous rapes of the past decades may sound sadistic. But I didn't suggest it as a moral lesson to guilt boys into believing their sexy feelings doomed them to a life as future predators, and terrify the girls into changing their behavior, lest they become future victims. Exactly the opposite: As I wrote here last year, dark as Harding's book is, I found it surprisingly uplifting, a "plea for wisdom, moral clarity, love, and cooperation between men and women, and great sex between sane, consenting people of all ages."Asking for It, the second novel for young adults by Irish writer Louise O' Neill, released in the United States this month, which depicts a brutal rape closely resembling two American cases that made international headlines: Daisy Coleman (whose name we know because she chose to speak publicly about her own rape), the fourteen-year-old high school cheerleader in Maryville, Missouri, who accused two popular senior athletes of raping her and her thirteen-year-old friend, then dumping her body on her doorstep, where she spent four hours in subzero temperatures. In a similarly notorious case in Steubenville, Ohio, an unconscious girl was dragged from party to party, sexually assaulted and physically desecrated in front of multiple witnesses, then humiliated with photos of her own assault posted on social media. O'Neill's novel, set in Ireland, makes use of details from both American nightmares: her main character, eighteen-year-old Emma Donovan, is raped and then abandoned on her parents' porch, exposed cruelly to the elements (in her case, she gets sunstroke and blisters on a hot day). And as in the Steubenville case, she is ritually humiliated by her friends and classmates when photos of her assault surface on Facebook.Law and Order to true crime — often suggest pulp paperback, not serious literature. But this is not that kind of book and O'Neill is not that kind of writer. Like Harding, O'Neill is unabashedly feminist (her first novel, Only Ever Yours, depicted an anti-feminist dystopia closely resembling Margaret Atwoods's Handmaid's Tale ). The novel became an instant classic upon its UK release last year: Patrick Sproull of the Guardian called O'Neill "the best YA fiction writer alive today"; Jeannette Winterson said O'Neill "writes with a scalpel"; Only Ever Yours won Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards.her could interest someone like them anyway.)that word, telling her, "No one likes a girl who makes a fuss."slut, skank, whore. She was asking for it. Amy Benfer has worked as an editor and staff writer at Salon, Legal Affairs, and Paper magazine. Her reviews and features on books have appeared in Salon, The San Francisco Chronicle Book Review, The Believer, Kirkus Reviews, and The New York Times Book Review.
Reviewer: Amy Benfer
The Barnes & Noble Review
Try to be brave, grown-ups. O'Neill's second novel may be scary, but it is riveting and essential. Teenagers will recognize its difficult truth and devour it—behind your backs, if need be…Emma always seems incontrovertibly real. What's terrifying is that the world she lives in—full of misogyny and deep, communal denial—does too.
The New York Times Book Review - Jeff Giles
02/01/2016
Named a Michael L. Printz Honor Book by the American Librarians Association A School Library Journal Best Book A New York Public Library Best Book A Bustle Best YA Book Jeff Giles, The New York Times Asking For It ] feeling happy, but you will come away from it feeling angry and anger is a healthier emotion than despair. If, like me, you're a parent, I might advise you to buy it for your daughters, but actually it would do more good if I begged you to buy it for your sons. . .Young women already know what's between the pages of this book. It's the other people in that room who need to read it."LitReactor Bustle Sarah Gilmartin, Irish Times The F Word Broadly, Vice Only Ever Yours ."HelloGiggles Only Ever Yours , Louise O'Neill is one of my absolute favorite new writers . . . The title enough should help you see where the story goes from there, and it's going to make you furious, but that's why it's so important."Bustle Common Sense Media (5 Star Review) Guardian Guardian Aoife Barry, The Journal Elle (UK), Best Books of 2015 Deirdre Reynolds, Irish Independent Booklist Speak , this UK import nonetheless is an important read for mature teen audiences."—School Library Journal (Starred Review) Asking For It . . .will find its way deep under your skin and send a chill down your spine."Refinery29 Publishers Weekly "Asking for It raises hard questions about how society treats rape victims in a way that few other YA books on this subject tend to do. O'Neill's writing is unflinching in its depiction of Emma's pain: raw and harrowing and terribly real. It is provocative in its brace and honest exploration of rape culture and victim-shaming. This powerful book begs to be discussed, and will stay with readers long after they put it down."—Worlds of Words
12/01/2016
