Sunday 20 July 2014

Bully by Penelope Douglas



Tate has been bullied by her former best friend and neighbour, Jared since they began high school. When once they were each other's anchors holding the other together through the death of parents and ones with alcohol problems, they now can't stand to look at each other, let alone be in the same room. So when the vicious rumours that are being spread about Tate by Jared  escalate into borderline sadistic territory, Tate packs up and moves to France for a year in the hope that the animosity between the two will have dissipated by the time she comes back for her senior year. But on her return, Tate has finally grown a back-bone and decides to turn Jared's games back on him, though not everything is as it seems and Tate will have to discover exactly what it was that made Jared despise the very sight of her all those years ago in order for them to finally escape the past and move forward into the future. I don't really know what to say about this book because I both absolutely loved and hated it...Jared had been through a very hard time and he decided to hurt the person he could when he couldn't get to the one that he wanted to, and in a way I understand why he would see the need to do that, although I really loved Tate's character and was saddened that her best friend would turn against her over something so unsubstancial. I equally love and hate Jared because whilst he was able to mostly overcome what happened to him, he terrorised Tate for years and made her feel as though she needed to leave the country in order to escape him and his cronies, when instead he should have been seeking support and help from her. Douglas writes a book with strong characters, witty one-liners and a very psychological story that taps into the mind of a bully and what eventually creates one. 

Rating: 3/5 Titans

"If you beat metal long enough, it turns to steel"

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