- You Against Me by Jenny Downham
- Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: David Fickling Books (2 Dec 2010)
Genre: Young Adult Source:Random House Children Books
Rating;
Synopsis: If someone hurts your sister and you’re any kind of man, you seek revenge, right?
If your brother’s accused of a terrible crime but says he didn’t do it, you defend him, don’t you?
When Mikey’s sister claims a boy assaulted her, his world begins to fall apart.
When Ellie’s brother is charged with the offence, her world begins to unravel.
When Mikey and Ellie meet, two worlds collide.
This is a brave and unflinching novel from the bestselling author of Before I Die. It’s a book about loyalty and the choices that come with it. But above all it’s a book about love.
My Thoughts: Mikey and Ellie come from worlds apart, whilst Mikey is the sole breadwinner for his family due to his mother being an alcoholic and having to cope with two younger sisters, Ellie meanwhile lives a comfortable lifestyle with parents who make a great living.
There is never any intention of the two meeting, but when Ellie's brother - Tom is accused of raping Karyn - Mickey’s younger sister, Mikey promises to exact revenge against Tom. In result the two (Being Mikey and Ellie) coming head to head is inevitable.
Throughout the book I had one issue and that was the slang. Going to a school in a rough area that was full of this type of slang may mean I am accustomed to it in a sense, but I would rather not read it in a novel. I found it of putting and even though Mikey is from a rough area where that type of slang is used didn't mean that I had to like it. My main concern was towards International readers who would not only possibly be put of by it but be completely unfamiliar with some of the terms.
What I did enjoy about the novel was the secretive and mysterious aspect of it which always kept me second guessing and unsure as to which character could be trusted or not.
Ellie on the other hand is treated as a suspect, someone who is said to have been there at the night of the crime only she claims to have been asleep. Throughout the novel you will find yourself questioning Ellie and her motives and even as to weather she can be trusted altogether. Placing that to a side I have to say Mikey is a good son, a good brother, who takes care of his family but I still find it inexcusable the way he treats women. He has absolutely no respect for them whatsoever and regards them as disposable.
Funnily enough the first time Ellie and Mikey meet there is instant chemistry, and what originally started out from both sides as selfish motives turns into something else entirely.
The question is can the both of them be together regardless of the chaos surrounding them?
To say it plainly. There are no likable characters in my opinion. There is the alcoholic mother who completely ignores her children and has left her eldest son to do the upbringing. Tom, who I found conniving and numb to emotion and purely selfish. Ellie's mother and father whose pure priority is proving the innocence of their son which is understandable, but not once do they ask him, "Did you do it Tom?" They completely brush that aside and that frustrated me. Ellie meanwhile was equally as selfish as her brother even though she did have her redeeming moments. The fact that she acted so oblivious and insensitive to what was going on around her until much later in the book made me dislike her for some time, with that being said, Karyn is the real victim here or so we are led to think. We really don't know if she in reality was raped, not until the very end anyway.
One thing that I also didn’t agree with was Ellie and Mikey being made out to be In love. I really didn’t find their relationship to that level believable. “Like” fair enough but "love”? I don’t think so. Maybe I just had higher expectations, you see I have read Before I die. It is everything everyone says. Amazing, bitter-sweet, and heartbreaking which might have raised the bar expectation - wise.
I think I am going to be slightly on the vague side on my final verdict and that is the best way to go for this one, so that you are able to make the final decision for yourself. You Against Me might not exactly be a favourite of mine, but I think it is one of those where either it works for you or it doesn't. One thing that I will say is that it does leave you in thought, and make you raise the question. "What would you do if you were in Ellie’s situation?"
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