Review: Freak by Marcella Pixley

[gehayi]

Title: Freak by Marcella Pixley
Pages: 144 pages
Rating: 2/10
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Comments

[gehayi]

As someone who did experience it, and recently went through it again from a parents perspective, eventually having to move my daughter to a different school because both the teachers and the bullies parents refused to do anything to stop the 'poor misunderstood' little snots from terrorizing her on a daily basis, I cant help but feel rather angry at the blame the victim theme the book seems the veer into.

I'm deeply sorry, both for you and for your daughter. That's horribly wrong. And I wouldn't call the bullies who terrorized your daughter anything but evil. I don't buy that bullies are unhappy, neglected, looking for attention or misunderstood. I just think they're vicious swine who get off on having the power to hurt others.

The book genuinely started well, showing that trying to avoid bullies and attempting to ignore them flat-out doesn't stop them, that parents are often unaware that their kids are being bullied, and that teachers frequently blame the kid who is getting harassed for doing something unknown to "upset" the bullies rather than trying to end the bullying. It was painfully accurate for about three-quarters of the book, and felt like it had written by someone who had been bullied.

(I'm not honestly sure if the author has been or not; she tells different stories about that. In some interviews she says that she was bullied very badly; in others she simply says that she was ignored and avoided, and felt like an outcast.)

But then...well, the story got to the point where a) the bullies had to be plotting some kind of vengeance against the girl who fought back; b) the adults (Miriam's parents, teachers and principal) were going to HAVE to take some kind of action against the bullying; and c) Miriam was going to have to decide how far she would be willing to go to convince the bullying bastards that trying to hurt her was a very, VERY bad idea.

And the author didn't have the nerve to deal with this. It was the next step...but it went against her stated reason for writing the book, which I read in an interview, which was to tell her students that were being bullied that they were not alone, and all of their peers--even the bullies--knew what it was to feel unhappy and isolated.

It was well-intentioned. I don't doubt that. But, in doing so, she veered away from the truth she was telling ("Bullying is fucking WRONG and it needs to stop NOW") and opted for a pleasant and reassuring lie--that victims can control their tormenters' behavior simply by being kind and calm and likable. And if a victim is just nice enough, the bullies will stop hurting her, and will like her back. Which is not true.

And I believe that an author's deepest obligation is to tell the truth.