This book is not about sisterhood, braiding hair and girl drama. This is a book about murder, about letting your darkest emotions consume you and tipping the balance between revenge and redemption. This is ‘Female of the Species’ by Mindy McGinnis. Through the story of three young people, the book deals with themes like rape culture and slut-shaming.
Female of the Species
Author: Mindy McGinnis
Genre: YA, contemporary, mystery, feminism
Published: September 2016
Pages: 341
My rating: 🖤🖤🖤🖤
Don’t get fooled! Even though the cover is green, cute and covered with animals the book is anything but that. This book has teeth and is not afraid to show it. Kind of like the main character Alex who opens the book stating matter of factly: “This is how I kill someone.” ‘Female of the Species’ is told through multiple points of view; Alex whose sister was brutally murdered, Peekay who volunteers at an animal shelter and Jack the school star athlete. We follow Alex’s resurfacing back to society after her sister’s murder, while she befriends Peekay and Jack.
“I am a wolf that my sister kept in a cage, until her hand was removed. I have been out, curious as I wake up from a lethargic solitude, self-enforced because I know I don’t belong here. It’s not safe for me to be out, but they rattled my cage. First Claire and then Jack. And now I’m awake, deviating from the paths I created in order to remain stable. I’m out, I’m awake, and afraid I won’t be easily put back.”
Alex knows she is different and she believes she might be a danger to the people around her but due to her growing friendship with Peekay and Jack she is slowly returning to society. While doing so Alex is both scaring people with her behavior but she also makes people questioning their own. Alex takes shit from no one and especially in regards to how girls are treated both by other girls but also by boys. Alex isn’t one to sit on her hands. And whether she is crazy is for you to decide. Some of her actions scare her friends and are wrong on so many levels but I still can’t keep myself from understanding her wrath and anger. Be that as it may, there is still a huge step between thinking about violence and actually performing it as Alex tells Peekay in the book.
“You can love someone down to their core and they can love you right back just as hard, and if you traded diaries you’d learn things you never suspected. There’s a part of everyone deep down inside of them not meant for you. And the sooner you learn that, the easier your life is gonna be.”
This book deals with a lot of serious and tough themes like rape-culture, slut-shaming, violence, revenge and grief. And it does so brutally honest. It rips your heart out and revels in it. This is what makes the book stand out; the rawness. Don’t worry it is not all butchering and blood. Far from it. What makes you read this book and continue to do so is the quiet pondering interactions between the characters while still getting the feeling of some monster lurking behind the next page waiting to be let loose.
“It’s not the sheep that call to me, but the other wolves. I want to run with them, so that I may tear out their throats when they threaten my flock. But I can’t return to the sheep with blood on my breath; they will shy away from me.”
This book made me cradle the characters while still breaking my heart. I won’t give too much of the ending away other than it left me in tears. This book is all bout the feels while a wolf is lurking in the shadows. I am sure this would be a great read by those who love ‘The Nowhere Girls’, ‘We Were Liars’ and ‘Asking For It’ (read my review here).
Best,
Nicoline
Have you read The Female of the Species? What are your thoughts? Have your read other books circulating these themes you could recommend?
Synopsis
A contemporary YA novel that examines rape culture through alternating perspectives.
Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it.
Three years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best—the language of violence. While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people. Not with Jack, the star athlete who wants to really know her but still feels guilty over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered. And not with Peekay, the preacher’s kid with a defiant streak who befriends Alex while they volunteer at an animal shelter. Not anyone.
As their senior year unfolds, Alex’s darker nature breaks out, setting these three teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever
Synopsis from Goodreads