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A review by helterskelliter
The Wolves Are Waiting by Natasha Friend
4.0
“Why should she thank him for believing her? She was telling the truth.” (317)
15-year-old Nora Melchionda has what some would call a charmed life. She comes from a loving family, has a great best-friend (Cam), is fairly popular at school, and loves sports. Her life is going well.
Then, the night of the local frat fair happens.
Nora wakes up on the golf course, unsure of how she got there. The night is a blank. She doesn’t know how she got to the golf course or why Cam and Adam Xu—a classmate who she barely knows—are looking at her with such concern. That is, she doesn’t remember anything until Cam and Adam tell her what almost happened the night of the frat fair, what would’ve happened had Adam not intervened and then called Camto meet them.
Then, Nora wishes she could just forget and move on.
Nora doesn’t want to talk about that night or think about what almost happened to her—what did happen to her. Despite Cam wanting to file a formal report about the assault and Adam having video evidence of it, Nora can’t imagine how this could go well. No one believes women, especially girls who were drinking and likely drugged like she was.
Nora just wants to pretend that everything is fine.
And, it is fine. For a bit. Until Cam does some digging and discovers that what happened to Nora is not novel. Lots of women have been assaulted by frat brothers from the local university over the decades. Lots of stories have been swept under the proverbial rug—some by the athletic director at the university. A man who just so happens to be Nora’s father, a former frat brother himself. A man who swore to always protect Nora.
But, how can her dad think he’s protecting her by getting men who assault women off from facing consequences for their actions? How can any man claim to support women and then cover for men who hurt women?
Nora doesn’t want to be silent anymore; she wants to scream. Shout and rage.
She wants to be heard.
And, this is her story.
What an unexpectedly intense and thoughtful and moving story! To be honest, when I started this book, I wasn’t expecting much. But, this plot grips you as soon as you dip your toes in. I was riveted. I couldn’t put this book down!
I really appreciate how this story approaches talking about sexual assault, rape culture, misogyny, and the patriarchy’s continuing chokehold on society.
I think Nora is such a relatable and relevant character. Her fears and anxieties and uncertainty all feel real. She’s this young girl being forced to confront a world that doesn’t like women and especially doesn’t like women who speak out against their own dehumanization. Her journey feels organic and all the more painful for it. All her realizations about the world’s feelings towards women and her disappointments in the men she believed once were heroes are ones I’ve had as a young woman.
Further, I appreciate how this book provides no easy answers for how to address these systemic issues. Rather, this book focuses on individual changes that can be scaled to communities. The community of Faber changes as young women and girls like Nora come forward and refuse to be silenced anymore. But, you also have the university where this fraternity operates, refusing to acknowledge any problems. You have Nora’s father making excuses for his athletes. You have several students who diminish Nora until the story breaks and her classmates realize the scale of the issue in their own community and their role in perpetuating it. We’ll, at least some student realize that.
It’s complicated and messy and leaves readers with so much to consider.
This book lingers.
I just can’t get over how real this book feels and how relevant it is—how relevant I believe this book and this story will be for a long time.
This is a 4.5/5 stars for me! Highly recommend it! I think it’s thoughtful and potentially eye-opening for a lot of young readers. Trigger warnings for mentions of assault, violence, drugs.
15-year-old Nora Melchionda has what some would call a charmed life. She comes from a loving family, has a great best-friend (Cam), is fairly popular at school, and loves sports. Her life is going well.
Then, the night of the local frat fair happens.
Nora wakes up on the golf course, unsure of how she got there. The night is a blank. She doesn’t know how she got to the golf course or why Cam and Adam Xu—a classmate who she barely knows—are looking at her with such concern. That is, she doesn’t remember anything until Cam and Adam tell her what almost happened the night of the frat fair, what would’ve happened had Adam not intervened and then called Camto meet them.
Then, Nora wishes she could just forget and move on.
Nora doesn’t want to talk about that night or think about what almost happened to her—what did happen to her. Despite Cam wanting to file a formal report about the assault and Adam having video evidence of it, Nora can’t imagine how this could go well. No one believes women, especially girls who were drinking and likely drugged like she was.
Nora just wants to pretend that everything is fine.
And, it is fine. For a bit. Until Cam does some digging and discovers that what happened to Nora is not novel. Lots of women have been assaulted by frat brothers from the local university over the decades. Lots of stories have been swept under the proverbial rug—some by the athletic director at the university. A man who just so happens to be Nora’s father, a former frat brother himself. A man who swore to always protect Nora.
But, how can her dad think he’s protecting her by getting men who assault women off from facing consequences for their actions? How can any man claim to support women and then cover for men who hurt women?
Nora doesn’t want to be silent anymore; she wants to scream. Shout and rage.
She wants to be heard.
And, this is her story.
What an unexpectedly intense and thoughtful and moving story! To be honest, when I started this book, I wasn’t expecting much. But, this plot grips you as soon as you dip your toes in. I was riveted. I couldn’t put this book down!
I really appreciate how this story approaches talking about sexual assault, rape culture, misogyny, and the patriarchy’s continuing chokehold on society.
I think Nora is such a relatable and relevant character. Her fears and anxieties and uncertainty all feel real. She’s this young girl being forced to confront a world that doesn’t like women and especially doesn’t like women who speak out against their own dehumanization. Her journey feels organic and all the more painful for it. All her realizations about the world’s feelings towards women and her disappointments in the men she believed once were heroes are ones I’ve had as a young woman.
Further, I appreciate how this book provides no easy answers for how to address these systemic issues. Rather, this book focuses on individual changes that can be scaled to communities. The community of Faber changes as young women and girls like Nora come forward and refuse to be silenced anymore. But, you also have the university where this fraternity operates, refusing to acknowledge any problems. You have Nora’s father making excuses for his athletes. You have several students who diminish Nora until the story breaks and her classmates realize the scale of the issue in their own community and their role in perpetuating it. We’ll, at least some student realize that.
It’s complicated and messy and leaves readers with so much to consider.
This book lingers.
I just can’t get over how real this book feels and how relevant it is—how relevant I believe this book and this story will be for a long time.
This is a 4.5/5 stars for me! Highly recommend it! I think it’s thoughtful and potentially eye-opening for a lot of young readers. Trigger warnings for mentions of assault, violence, drugs.