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A review by merlin_reads
Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian
2.5
So, this book is going to be hard for me to rate. I've been thinking about it since I finished it last Friday and still am unclear so I'm, hoping that by the end of this review I will have some clarity of sorts. Not That Kind of Girl follows a girl named Natalie who strives for perfection in everything that she does. She's on student council (president actually), she volunteers for everything, excellent grades, SAT prep and studying every free minute...you know the type. And she has no time for boys and for girls who want to get boys. In Natalie's mind, girls should not be dating in high school and should definitely not be sexualizing themselves that early.
Now here's where it gets gray for me. I can totally get behind Natalie's view on oversexualization in high schools because, let's face it, this is an issue. There's a 14-year old girl here who wears a shirt with Rosstitute (school name + prostitute) across her chest and when told it's inappropriate, whips it off in the hallway. A little much? Yes. Agreed with Natalie here. But what I didn't agree with was how she dealt with it. It's like she had a good message and then took that message and ran with it. Like ran all the way to China with it. For someone who thinks women should be empowered, Natalie did a lot of slut shaming herself. She was also quick on the hate men wagon. And that, I could not get behind.
Most of the side characters were one-dimensional: mean girls, crude jocks. The only shining character to me in this book was Connor- the one guy, who for some reason, likes Natalie. I don't think I will ever understand why he liked her. She was HORRIBLE to him. Basically everything she was criticizing other people for, she was doing. Only in her mind, it was okay because it was in secret and no one would ever find out about it. She was basically treating Connor the way she always said guys treated girls. Her was her dirty little secret and when he tried to fight back, she belittled him.
The ending seemed a little rushed and everything wrapped up perfectly even thought they seemed unresolved to me. I guess overall I get what the author was trying to convey, I just think that the character of Natalie was a little much and had me more annoyed then going "yeah girl power!".
Now here's where it gets gray for me. I can totally get behind Natalie's view on oversexualization in high schools because, let's face it, this is an issue. There's a 14-year old girl here who wears a shirt with Rosstitute (school name + prostitute) across her chest and when told it's inappropriate, whips it off in the hallway. A little much? Yes. Agreed with Natalie here. But what I didn't agree with was how she dealt with it. It's like she had a good message and then took that message and ran with it. Like ran all the way to China with it. For someone who thinks women should be empowered, Natalie did a lot of slut shaming herself. She was also quick on the hate men wagon. And that, I could not get behind.
Most of the side characters were one-dimensional: mean girls, crude jocks. The only shining character to me in this book was Connor- the one guy, who for some reason, likes Natalie. I don't think I will ever understand why he liked her. She was HORRIBLE to him. Basically everything she was criticizing other people for, she was doing. Only in her mind, it was okay because it was in secret and no one would ever find out about it. She was basically treating Connor the way she always said guys treated girls. Her was her dirty little secret and when he tried to fight back, she belittled him.
The ending seemed a little rushed and everything wrapped up perfectly even thought they seemed unresolved to me. I guess overall I get what the author was trying to convey, I just think that the character of Natalie was a little much and had me more annoyed then going "yeah girl power!".