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Recently I've gotten into reading more contemporary books, the books with themes of rape and mental illness and violence. Why? Because it makes me think. It makes me realize that stuff like this happens all of the time. Some people ask me why I read such "depressing" books, but, the truth is, is that I don't find any of this depressing. They're important topics, but they're the topics that no one wants to discuss.
All The Rage is one of those books. It's one of those books that once you pick up, you can't set it back down.
Romy Grey is known for three things- her painted nails, her red lipstick, and that she is the girl who cried rape against the town's golden boy, Kellan Turner. Her family is well known. Romy's mother was the popular girl in high school and married young. Her father, though, turned out to be a drunkard and left her and her mother when Romy was in high school. It's a small town, and news travels fast. If you don't have the right shoes, you don't fit in.
Then there's that party, that party she had looked forward to, that would create an even greater rift between the student body and her. She knew Kellan would be there. She had liked him for a while now, and wanted to make a move on him that night. Penny gave her the ok, told her not to drink too much, and, even when she did drink too much, Penny would make sure she was ok. Kellan was beautiful, and she wanted him to notice her. She just wanted him to kiss her-- that's all. It was harmless. Then he continued. And she couldn't fight back, but she was crying and told him to stop. And he covered her mouth, because that's how you get someone to stop crying, right? "You cover her mouth until the sound dies against your palm." (Summers, C.)
Whose going to believe you? You were drunk. Oh, God, you were so drunk. Sloppy drunk. Maybe it was consensual, and you are just regretting it. Or maybe it's your fault because you were drunk. Should've said no, right? Should've denied going to the truck with him. Should've done this, or that, right?
Wrong.
No one cared to believe Romy. Kellan was the sheriff's son; he couldn't of done that. She didn't have a rape kit done, and there was no evidence anyways. Everyone blamed her for Kellan's time in a different town; they blamed her for calling the police to "break up the party." They blamed her for the fact that Penny is still missing.
Penny's friends, Romy's old friends, all make her life a living nightmare. Romy is the topic of every student. It's her undergarments that were stolen and put on a mannequin at school. It's her that people care couldn't less about what happens to her.
Maybe if Romy was the one who was gone, things could go back to normal. Maybe people could find someone else to torment. After all, it shouldn't be Romy that's alive and well. They were both at the senior party at the lake. They left around the same time. Except, Romy had ended up on the side of the road with "Rape Me" written on her stomach with her lipstick, and she doesn't know how that happened.
Within the search for Penny, Romy begins this relationship-- if you can call it that-- with a coworker of hers, Leon. She's trying to get over her past, but every time she begins to, she finds herself back there. He takes her to meet his family, they make out a few times, but it still isn't enough to bring her back to herself.
The sheriff keeps pressing her for details, but when Romy gives the details she remembered, the sheriff calls her a liar. Romy was one of the last to see Penny alive. Romy doesn't tell that Penny disclosed that there was a girl who reported a rape while Kellan was there. She had wanted Romy to report it in that town so maybe she would be heard then. Romy doesn't tell that Penny believed her.
When Penny's body is found, and Brock admits to the murder, everyone is confused. Why would Brock kill a girl he was friends with? Because he had brought Romy out there to do what Kellan did to her. Because she was drunk and had taken her shirt off in front of everyone. Because he wanted to and knew he could get away with it. But Penny saw what he was doing, and wouldn't allow it to happen. Penny had gotten in the way.
When the sheriff asks what happened that night, Romy tells him. She tells him Brock tried to rape her, like Kellan did, and that he would've had Penny not been there. The sheriff storms out of her home, leaving her with her mother and mother's boyfriend.
A few day's later, Tina, one of her prime tormentors, asked if Romy could ever forgive her for what she had done. Instead of openly forgiving her, she made Tina go to the town that Kellan been in to talk to the other victim.
And that's where the book ends. There is no sequel, but we can infer that they found the girl and Kellan was prosecuted with the two survivor's testimonies.
I feel like this needs to be seen. It needs to be read and discussed among teens. Why do we shy away from the important things? Because we are afraid to talk about it, which leaves people, people like Romy, afraid to speak out.
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