Girl Made of Stars

I can't see the situation clearly. Can't see what to do about it. Can't help Hannah, can't hate Owen, can't say anything that matters. Anywhere I turn, I'm betraying my own -- my friend, my brother, myself. Belief isn't easy, it isn't black and white.I think I've been reading a lot of amazing books lately. As soon as I finished this one, I immediately pre-ordered a finished copy.This books is heavy and important.It asks us to question our beliefs and values and makes us wonder if there can be any exceptions. What would you do if someone close to you was accused of doing something horrible to someone else? What if you believed they actually did what they were accused of? Would you support your loved one or help seek justice for their victim? Would you somehow try to figure out how to do both? And how would your relationship with your loved one change? How would your life change?A Girl Made of Stars is told through the perspective of Mara. Her twin brother is the accused and her close friend is the accuser. It is heartbreaking to see how she wants to believe her brother is innocent while knowing her friend wouldn't lie either. Through Mara we see why many victims of violence choose to stay quiet. While confronting her own trauma, she feels stupid and embarrassed and wonders if what happened was her fault. She notices how even though bad things happen everyone's lives still look so normal, like nothing actually happened even though everything feels wrong. Aside from being pulled between her brother and her friend, Mara and her ex girlfriend, Charlie, question and explore their sexuality. The way Mara handles each situation and the choices she makes are all, in my opinion, not always well thought out at first yet always believable, and I admire her strength through everything she faces.Hannah is Mara's close friend and the girl who accuses Mara's brother, Owen, of rape. This book is full of strong female characters, and Hannah, Like Mara, is one of them. To me, being able to speak up about your experience takes a lot of strength. Hannah voices that she has been raped, but sadly, most of her peers believe she is to blame.Owen is handsome and charismatic. He is a talented violinist and gets good grades. He studies hard but parties hard, and he is Hannah's boyfriend until he is accused of raping her. I think that rape is always always always wrong, but even as the story progresses Owen never gives off an evil-bad-guy vibe. If anything, he seems scared and desperate.So when he spreads his "side of the story" it makes it easier to believe that he is innocent.I think the most controversial character in this story is going to be Mara and Owen's mother. She is described as a feminist and is proud of Mara for fighting the patriarchy, yet she vehemently defends Owen. I feel that she is in the hardest position because the accused rapist is her own son. I'm not sure about you all, but I can understand wanting to protect someone you created and molded despite their wrong doings. In the twins' mother's case, it seems she has convinced herself that her son is innocent in order to believe in him.This book isn't just about rape, it's also about moving on and changing as a result of trauma.As someone who has had a similar experience to one of these characters, I feel that Ashley Herring Blake perfectly captures how it feels to try to be your "old" self while knowing you aren't completely who you used to be. She fully captures the struggle and hope, and I think this book is worth reading if you were only to pick up on that.I just won't move through the world like I did before. Some parts of me are gone. Some others have come alive, woken by the need to fight, to matter, to be heard. Some parts are wary, others angry, others heartbroken. But I'm still me. I'm still moving. We all are, in some way or another.I urge you to read this book because there is so much to learn from it. Maybe if more books like this one were read, more victims of abuse would feel it was okay to seek justice for their experiences.

What if you loved your twin brother more than all the stars in the sky? What if that brother did something unforgivable? What if your brother raped his girlfriend?Mara doesn’t want to believe Owen raped Hannah, one of her best friends, but she knows in her heart he did. Her feminist mother, once championed survivors, now tells Mara to stand behind Owen and dismiss Hannah. Mara has secrets she’s never told anyone. The bullying and slut shaming Hannah experiences reinforces Mara’s resolve to never tell anyone what happened to her.Mara is such a complex character. She misses her BFF and ex girlfriend Charlie and also exploring a relationship with Alex, a close friend of Owen. I easily envisioned a family like hers, pro-victim until the golden child is the perp. The pressure Mara’s parents put on her felt as realistic as it was frustrating.The words Ashley Herring Blake writes are so beautiful they practically dance off the pages (kindle screen). She gave Mara a voice filled with pain, determination and strength, haunting and memorable.GIRL MADE OF STARS is filled with diversity where that diversity is just part of the characters’ complexity, not the entire story. Sexual orientation and Charlie’s gender expression are a strong component of Mara’s relationship with both Charlie and Alex.The importance of GIRL MADE OF STARS struck me throughout the book from microaggressions to overt slut-shaming to misogyny. In one instance Mara is suspended for 2 days, one for a too-short skirt and the other for behaving in an unladylike manner.I don’t need endings to wrap novels in a pretty bow, but I would have liked to know the disposition of one subplot (saying more would be a spoiler). The pace of the story could have been faster. I paused reading several times without the feeling I wanted to continue ASAP. Despite GIRL MADE OF STARS hitting all the right buttons, I didn’t feel the emotional connection I mostly do with stories about the aftermath of rape.GIRL MADE OF STARS captured the pulse of society’s #MeToo movement and the realities of life without perfect resolutions and full justice for survivors of sexual violence.

I can't think of enough words to describe this book. I devoured it piece by piece, while both wanting to read every word and close my eyes so that I didn't have to. This story is one that needs to be told everywhere. In every school, in every classroom. The best thing I can say about this book and this story is that it's important. The writing is outstanding, you feel every single bit of what you read which is both terrifying and wonderful. The book tore me apart bit by bit and then built me back up again. I felt ready to conquer the world by the end of it and I hope that every girl, woman, young and old can read this and feel empowered and heard. From the synopsis I knew I'd like this book, but god I didn't expect this. I know I'm gushing, but it deserves it and more. All I can say is thank you for writing this.

A beautiful and emotional story that will forever stay with me. I really really liked this book, and the story is so well writen,important and touching. Ashley Herring Blake did a marvelous job telling this very important and relevant story and I will read more of her work in the future, for sure.All the charaters are well rounded, complex and so real that I had no trouble immerging myself in this book.i defenely raccomnd this book if you're looking for a beautiful, emotional and well writen story with pleantyof diversity and real charaters that will touch you in more than one way.

A beautifully crafted book that handles its themes well. I was tearing up a few chapters in and was captivated from the start. The characters are extremely lovable, and although the plot took turns I wasn't expecting, it made it all the more enjoyable. The exploration of the relationships was a refreshing take, showing the importance of both platonic and romantic love. Highly recommend!

This book made me angry and sad and cry, but it was filled with some of the most complex characters and nuanced discussions that I've come across in YA fiction recently. TW: for rape, sexual assault, and victim blaming (not from the narrative, is challenged within the narrative).

3 1/2 starsThe subject matter of "Girl Made of Stars" is certainly an important one, but for some reason I felt that this novel was massing something.I liked that the novel didn't go for the easy solution, but instead made the harder choice and tell a more complex story. Unfortunately, I felt that none of the characters were really that well developed, they all remained rather one-dimensional.I think the novel could have been even better if it had spend more time on introducing and developing the characters before the rape took place in order to to really show the difficult position the characters are placed in. The way it is done here, the importance of the characters to each other is told rather than shown.Overall, I think that the novel was really good and dealt with an important subject matter but could have been improved on by developing the characters more.

Actual rating-4.25 stars .I want to start by saying that it's an important book and one you should definitely read.I cried multiple times while reading this.It's about a girl named Mara who finds herself in an impossible situation when her friend Hannah accuses her twin brother of rape.She is torn between believing her brother Owen and a friend who she knows would never lie.It's a very accurate portrayal of how society is always quick to point fingers at the girl and how girls aside from suffering a horrific ordeal also have to suffer slut shaming at the hands of society like Hannah in this story is name called and not believed by most of the students in her school.It brillantly reflects how women because of fear of not being believed often suffer in silence and remain quiet.Hannah also happens to be Mara's brother's girlfriend and the writer deals very meticulously with how the Hannah's rape is further not recognized by the society because she previously had sexual relations with Owen .It's very important to talk about this especially in a country where marital rape is not illegal. Aside from the central plot the story also focuses on Mara's personal life and her relationship with her ex Charlie who is gender queer .Charlie herself is bisexual and I don't know if I can account for how accurate the representation is but I found both the gender queer and the bisexual representation to be done very well.I rarely read acknowledgements and author's note at the end (not my finest quality I know)but in this case I read every word of both and in some way it helped me deal with the story and the end. The only reason I deducted 1 star or 0.75 star to be precise is cause I liked the narrator but it took me some time to really connect with her and I also wished the book was a bit longer.It's a very emotional read which will stay with you long after you have turned the final page.

Regalo