The Luis Ortega Survival Club
Ratings5
Average rating4.1
From the bestselling author of the National Book Award Finalist The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School comes a revenge story told with nuance, heart, and the possibility of healing. An ideal next read for fans of Laurie Halse Anderson.
Ariana Ruiz wants to be noticed. But as an autistic girl who never talks, she goes largely ignored by her peers—despite her bold fashion choices. So when cute, popular Luis starts to pay attention to her, Ari finally feels seen.
Luis’s attention soon turns to something more, and they have sex at a party—while Ari didn’t say no, she definitely didn’t say yes. Before she has a chance to process what happened and decide if she even has the right to be mad at Luis, the rumor mill begins churning—thanks, she’s sure, to Luis’s ex-girlfriend, Shawni. Boys at school now see Ari as an easy target, someone who won’t say no.
Then Ari finds a mysterious note in her locker that eventually leads her to a group of students determined to expose Luis for the predator he is. To her surprise, she finds genuine friendship among the group, including her growing feelings for the very last girl she expected to fall for. But in order to take Luis down, she’ll have to come to terms with the truth of what he did to her that night—and risk everything to see justice done.
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Don't let the cartoony cover fool you into thinking this is some silly YA romp. In reality, this Own Voices novel deals with extremely important topics: consent, sexual assault, sexual and gender identity, friendships, and neurodiversity.
Ari is a 17-year-old neurodiverse girl who is raped while attending a high school party (that is not a spoiler as it is mentioned in the first chapter). She doesn't understand that she has been assaulted, as she believes that the boy who did it - Luis Ortega - actually likes her. She also believes that because she is selectively mute and unable to speak in front of her peers, that it was her fault because she didn't specifically say no. She soon figures out that it was rape... And that she was not Luis' first victim. Soon, she finds herself surrounded by a new friend group with a plan to take Luis down and make him accountable for his crimes.
While the assault and revenge plot are the catalyst for the events of this book, the true story is about finding your voice, both literally and figuratively, and opening yourself up to the love and support of the people around you. The best part of the story was the friendships that Ari forms along the way, with people that understand and respect her, letting her be herself and finding her own inner strength.
As difficult and heartbreaking as it was to read about the assault of Ari and the other members of the Luis Ortega Survival Club, this is an important story that needs to be told. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and would urge parents to get this into the hands of every teen.
