Dare Me

I apparently need a shelf for things I read because it turns out that I need more books than I can carry for two weeks in Europe and there's no English language bookstores in the Swiss Alps and my library app limits what I can download internationally.

This book is utter crap. Complete and utter crap. Paper thin characters. The least mysterious mystery. I'm not totally sure Megan Abbott was ever a teenage girl, but, wow, that is NOT what it's like. Also, it reads super slowly. I seriously considered DNF'ing it despite having literally no reading alternative. Not really any redeeming features.

This gave me secondhand anorexa, my god the entire description is drenched in how thin and taught they all are. It was becoming kind of disgusting at the end. All the characters are generally the same and unlikeable. But also I didn't really get the point of the story.  Nothing changed throughout, no one learned anything. There is no character development at all. I didn't much enjoy the writing style or the story but it was very well thought out and written and made me feel super tense for what would happen. Though I still felt it went all super slow. 

A noir-style mystery/thriller set in a high school cheerleading squad? Sign me up! This is the third Megan Abbott book I've read, and I'm starting to recognize her work's hallmarks: the noir stylings, an intense relationship that is ostensibly not romantic but carries romantic undertones, the darkness of teenage girls and the power their developing sexuality holds. This book centers on the friendship between Addy and Beth, two cheerleaders whose longtime bond is threatened when a new coach comes to town. Beth has always been the dominant personality between the two, the captain to Addy's lieutenant, but as Addy buys more and more into Coach's methods and persona, the tables begin to turn. But no one is all they seem to be on the outside, and Coach has demons of her own. An unexpected death rachets up tensions even farther, and Addy will have to choose either Coach or Beth. I found this to be pretty successful as a noir-type mystery, the confusion around the death was engaging and kept me guessing. The vibes were generally well-deployed, there was a seemy underbelly type feeling that was David Lynch-ian. The rest of it is a bit of a mixed bag. Another Abbott trademark is an almost florrid style of prose, and that's on full display here as well. The girls exult in their social power as cheerleaders, in their developing performance skills, and that is reflected in phrasing about glitter and armor and tans and hair that does start to take on a repetitive quality. The characters feel more like types than people, and particularly for Addy as a narrator I felt like I needed more depth to really feel anchored in the story.

As I delved into Dare Me by Megan Abbott, it was almost like I was transformed back to my highschool days, one of the worst times of my entire life. I had a very hard time in high school and got bullied and picked on alot. So, right of the bat, this book was about a topic that hit really close to home for me. It was almost like a nightmare but at the same time I couldn't stop reading it because it was exhilirating and had many twists and turns I really didn't see coming at all.

One of the things that drew me in most about this book, was that it approached the high school topic from a different angle, a different perspective. Instead of being from the side of the “good girl”, who gets picked on and made fun of, we get a glimpse into the world of the “bad girl”, or the one who does the making fun. I got a very good look into the downside of being the popular girl and all the negatives that come with that. Nice to know that everybody has their challenges in high school and that I was not alone.

Megan Abbott writes in a very unique style, that is a little harder to get used to but is very addictive once you get used to it. For a little while, I actually thought that I would be giving this book four stars and not five, for this exact reason. However, after a few chapters, the writing style didn't bother me at all and the rest of the book flowed smoothly and effortlessly. I also loved the shortness of the chapters, because this kept the book moving and prevented it from dragging. I think most of the action actually happens towards the end of the book, but because the chapters were so short and the topic was one I was really interested in getting a better understanding of, I didn't mind this one bit.

Characterization speaks for itself here because any author that manages to get the reader to sympathize with a “bad” character is a master in that area. I didn't want to like Addy, or even Beth, but I couldn't help but feel for them or even with them. And Coach, I could never forget Coach, a prime example of money not being able to buy happiness. I understood all of them, even when I didn't want to admit it and this made them all the more realistic.

Another amazing thing is how this book had a little bit of everything. It had romance, mystery, crime, drama and many other genre categories, all packed into one terrific book. For this reason, I think anybody would enjoy this book, because they would never get bored.

All in all, even though I originally expected to be disappointed in this book because it seemed to me like something that you would read in a Middle School literature class, I was highly impressed. Not only does this book have a very intense and exhilirating plot, but it is also packed with larger-than-life characters, all of whom are flowed in many ways. For this reason, I recommend this book to anyone who can appreciate a good novel.