All The Rage Review

All The Rage

Courtney Summers

St. Martins Press

April 2015

4/5

I said that I was going to be taking a break from depressing and heavy books for awhile, but I've been wanting to read this book for awhile now so I had to give it a try! This book is extremely powerful, even more so than what I was initially expecting. It's honestly difficult to read at times because the kids are just so cruel, but it's still an important read for everyone.

Romy has been receiving horrible bullying since she told the truth about the Sheriff's golden boy son Kellan. No one believed her because she's from the wrong side of town so the kids at school instantly come to his defense. Her only safety is the diner she works at where no one knows about Kellan. The rest of the book consists of the disappearance of a girl who has ties to both Romy and Kellan, and the night before she disappeared where Romy last saw her but can't remember. It's a story that will keep you guessing until the last page. 

Can I just say that the kids Romy goes to school with are absolutely evil? It really blew my mind just how cruel they can be, they don't even treat her like she's a human being. That is completely unacceptable to me and it broke my heart but also made me angry. I felt this way because it was very real, high school sucks and Summers accurately portrayed bullying the best she could. Romy is an incredible main character. It broke my heart to see her thoughts about not being good enough or believing what all those kids said about her. 

Leon is a guy who works at the diner with Romy and doesn't know about what happened with Kellan. She likes being with him because she feels like she's a different girl when she's with him. It broke my heart to see how she felt about him actually treating her with respect since her experience with a guy was so terrible. I think the most heartbreaking and touching moments was the surprise that Romy felt when she asked Leon to stop and he instantly did. This was a tragic and real experience that is really educational for readers that may not know much about sexual assault. I'm not saying that those who have never experienced it can possibly understand what all they must go through after that, but it still provides some perspective. 

I didn't give All The Rage five stars because I was so confused and dissatisfied with the ending. I walked away with a ridiculous amount of questions. On one hand, it's good to not be able to stop thinking about a book once you finish it, but on the other I felt like not enough was explored. I wished that we would have gotten to see Kellan for even just a few pages, he doesn't have to be a main character but I would have liked at least some interaction. The ending was really abrupt and I was looking for some general closure. Overall, the message of this book was beyond powerful. This is the first Courtney Summers book I've ever read and I'm excited to read her other books. You need to read this if you haven't yet!