Summer Reading #11

What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler

This is loosely based on one of the many rape cases that have come to light in recent years. You know the ones I am talking about: the ones where the girl is too drunk to give consent, and the boys, usually athletes of some kind, take turns raping her. This is something that is showing up way too much these days, though I am sure social media has a lot to do with that.

In this case, it all started at a party. Kate, our protagonist, was there. She got wasted, and a guy friend of hers took her home, then he came back to the party to get his truck. The guy, Ben, is a basketball player, and has been Kate's friend for most of their lives.

At this party, another girl gets wasted to the point that she loses consciousness. Four boys from the varsity basketball team take turns raping her. Everybody at the party sees it happen. This was a Saturday. The following Tuesday, these four guys are arrested at school, and the media stays camped out at the high school. The victim, hasn't come back to school. Once word gets out, there's a lot of victim shaming. You know what I mean: people saying she was asking for what happened to her because of what she was wearing, bringing actions from her past up to justify what was done to her.

Turns out, there's a video. As far as anyone at school knows, the video no longer exists, but a group who helps in situations like this has found the video and threatens to release it if the rapists don't change their plea to guilty. Kate sees the video, and reports it to the school counselor. The site where she saw the video no longer exists, but the counselor reports the information to the principal, who fires her. God forbid justice should prevail when the state basketball championship is on the line!

Kate ends up taking what she knows to the police, and ends up a pariah. I hate that that's what happens to people who do the right thing.

So much about this book bothered me-the rape, the victim shaming, the treatment of Kate when she comes forward. The thing is, I still want kids to read this. How else can we get it through to them that all of these things are unacceptable?