Revenge of the Sluts by Natalie Walton [book review]

About Revenge of the sluts:

Revenge of the Sluts is a young adult novel by Natalie Walton. It follows Eden who is a school reporter for the St. Joseph High school. Writing for the newspaper is her passion and it shows in her work. She’s done numerous articles for the paper. When a group of girls has their nudes exposed to the whole school can Eden publish an article that does those girls justice? Considering all of the girls are over the age of eighteen will they get the justice that they deserve? And will the girls be able to figure out who put their nudes out for display?

What I thought about Revenge of the Sluts:

Revenge of the Sluts is about the hypocrisy women have to deal with. When a guy sends nudes no one really thinks twice about it but when a girl sends them she’s a slut. Sending nudes is something a woman really shouldn’t do. Which honestly it’s something I don’t really get. If it’s okay for one gender to do it then it should be okay for the other to do. I don’t agree with whoever you send nudes to show them to other people. I’m sure both genders do this not realizing the harm in it. But Revenge of the Sluts does show how detrimental it can be. It can ruin a reputation and it makes the victims learn to distrust people.

The Plot

To be honest I really did end up enjoying this book. I hate how women have deemed sluts if they enjoy sex and actually want it. Why is that? Why is it okay for me to like it but not men? I like how Eden handles things too. Despite the fact that she wants this story and to be able to spread awareness I feel like she handles things well. She treats the victims with respect.

Not once does she call them sluts or tell them how wrong they are when it comes to what they did. I think those girls needed someone like that. Someone who doesn’t judge them and someone who doesn’t find them disgusting despite what they did even though she’s done the same thing. I know some women will turn on others because she doesn’t want people to know that she’s done the same thing. So, I commend Natalie for making Eden so respectful.

This book did make me mad though. St. Joseph High school is a horrible school and I know there are a lot of schools out there like them. Instead of trying hard to figure out who did this to those girls they do the minimal work and try to cover it up. Who does that? I feel like schools would be concerned about their student’s mental health but sometimes that just isn’t the case.

The Characters

One thing that bothers me with the book though is that there is one girl who got her picture leaked is very destructive. Don’t get me wrong she’s a very strong girl and is handling things pretty well. She’s also helping the other girls manage and get through what is going on with them. She does a great job with this. My problem with her is that she was super destructive before all of this happened. She’s the type of girl who would have drunken sex with someone and not remember who they were the next day. This is such destructive behavior and I hope that no girl who reads this book finds this kind of behavior okay. That is a good way to get raped and killed.

There are parts of this book that actually kind of remind me of the tv show version of 13 reasons why. I’m just kind of surprised no one committed suicide because I can see that happening in a situation like this.

How do you guys feel about slut shaming? Especially girls in high school

If you like the sound of this book you might also like The Project.