A review by balto_hon
The Rumor Game, by Dhonielle Clayton, Sona Charaipotra
3.0
Thank you Disney Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my opinion.
The Rumor is social media and misogyny gone horribly wrong. At Foxham, an expensive private school in the DC suburbs catering to the children of elected officials and diplomats, the social jockeying for power continues in their children. With seemingly no parental oversight at all, the teens party and do their best to destroy one another's reputations. The story centers around Bryn, Cora and Georgie: the fallen social butterfly, the queen bee and the ugly duckling-now-turned-swan. In the aftermath of losing status through a car crash she caused, Bryn is desperate to regain her social footing and stops at little to accomplish that goal.
What I liked: The mixture of texts, story and social media pages. People who do not work with teens do not realize how awful they can be to one another in DMs and comments. This text definitely shows it. The pacing of the story aso works. I think this book could lead to some relevant discussions with teens about what happens on social media.
What I didn't care for: At the end of the book, I just really didn't feel deeply invested in any of the characters, didn't care about them and did not feel that any of them got what they deserved. The fact that no school officials or parents detected much was a bit implausible. I'm also not sure how many of my students would be interested in reading about the lives of the ultra-rich when the characters are so unlikeable - they get enough of that in the required textbook lists. This is not the first Disney ARC I have read in recent months where the characters are the children of ultra-rich political figures who appear to have no interest in their children, so I detect a theme in the publishing gatekeeping.
The Rumor is social media and misogyny gone horribly wrong. At Foxham, an expensive private school in the DC suburbs catering to the children of elected officials and diplomats, the social jockeying for power continues in their children. With seemingly no parental oversight at all, the teens party and do their best to destroy one another's reputations. The story centers around Bryn, Cora and Georgie: the fallen social butterfly, the queen bee and the ugly duckling-now-turned-swan. In the aftermath of losing status through a car crash she caused, Bryn is desperate to regain her social footing and stops at little to accomplish that goal.
What I liked: The mixture of texts, story and social media pages. People who do not work with teens do not realize how awful they can be to one another in DMs and comments. This text definitely shows it. The pacing of the story aso works. I think this book could lead to some relevant discussions with teens about what happens on social media.
What I didn't care for: At the end of the book, I just really didn't feel deeply invested in any of the characters, didn't care about them and did not feel that any of them got what they deserved. The fact that no school officials or parents detected much was a bit implausible. I'm also not sure how many of my students would be interested in reading about the lives of the ultra-rich when the characters are so unlikeable - they get enough of that in the required textbook lists. This is not the first Disney ARC I have read in recent months where the characters are the children of ultra-rich political figures who appear to have no interest in their children, so I detect a theme in the publishing gatekeeping.