Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Poster Girl

I loved this look into a dystopian regime being overthrown by another government. Such an interesting thought process. The original corrupt government rewards citizens by paying/removing rewards via monitoring eye implants and reporting behaviors by citizens. When overthrown all citizens who supported the government are held in a secluded and guarded community for life. Including MC Sonya, who was the literal poster child for the deligation government. Now the new government is offering her her freedom in exchange for finding a missing person displaced my the deligation. She will find that the government she knew as a child wasn't as she thought it wasn't uncovering secrets and very uncomfortable information she didn't know she'd rather leave buried.

This is a slow burn and I couldn't put it down. Perfect for a dystopian weekend read. Highly recommend, and eerily relevant to the times.

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Poster Girl is an uncomfortable portrait of guilt and identity.

We follow Sonya, the former teenage poster girl for an oppressive dystopian regime. She’s been living in a prison for the past 10 years alongside fellow members of the Delegation. But now, an old enemy visits her with an enticing offer: if she finds a missing child who was stolen by the old regime, she can earn her freedom.

Roth has great skill at building dystopian worlds; the society felt very adjacent to our current reality. The invasive tech & government surveillance aspect felt very believable.

The characterization was excellent. Sonya is a compelling morally gray protagonist - you’re angry with her and hopeful for her and yet a little hesitant to root for her. We don’t usually get dystopian lit from the point of view of a character with privilege & that benefited from the regime.

I also enjoyed that we’re dropping into this story 10 years after the revolution. The world has settled (although there are of course complications with the new leadership), and Sonya is an adult who has essentially been living in limbo - with space from her personal trauma and plenty of time to allow for reflection. She was fully indoctrinated and still lives in that bubble at the start of the story; it’s intriguing to watch her discover the ethical horrors of what she once accepted as truth.

One weakness for me was the romance aspect. It felt a bit tacked on & that thread didn’t seem to lead anywhere or add to the plot outside of a device for Sonya to yet again recognize her manipulation and recalibrate her sense of self.

Additionally, there was so much distance from the overthrowing incident that the mystery plot & tension didn’t feel as urgent or engaging as I wanted it to be.

Overall, Poster Girl was fascinating, but I wished for a little more depth and higher stakes.

CW: murder, death, child death, suicide, suicidal thoughts, violence, alcoholism, drug use, confinement, gun violence, addiction, grief, mental illness, panic attacks, police brutality, war, kidnapping, child abuse

(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

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parchmentdreams's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Veronica Roth's Poster Girl is the first book I've read by the author, and what a book! Roth's adult dystopian novel is set in a post-surveillance society, featuring the literal "poster girl" of the previous regime - Sonya Kantor.

We follow Sonya as she lives in the Aperture, a specially designed prison for the remnants of the Delegation. Poster Girl is the story of one young woman as she struggles to find herself - her identity and her role in life - in a society that has moved on without her. The novel cleverly and gently discusses topics such as surveillance and digital identities, suicide, societal and economic disparities, and how it feels to live in a world which no longer makes sense.

Roth's writing lends itself very well to film adaptation, in the way the author build us a world and almost places us inside it right alongside the main character. The lead herself, Sonya, had the potential to be an incredible unlikeable character, and while she was certainly a naive teen, as a woman her character is strong yet sensitive. I loved that Sonya was able to look back on the mistakes she had made as a child (and even as an adult) and recognise and make an effort to grow from those errors. She wasn't whiny or self-absorbed as a lot of characters in this sort of setting end up coming across, and I really enjoyed the chemistry between her and Alexander.

Overall, this was a very well written and engaging novel, about a young woman struggling to find and accept who she is in a post-surveillance world that has moved on without her. I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves dystopian or speculative fiction, with sci-fi elements and in depth characters.

"She's a speck of dust here, unobserved and unremarked upon. Everywhere, in every direction, is emptiness. Everywhere, in every direction, is freedom."

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