Summer Reading #3

Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston

This book is one of the nominees for the 2017 TAYSHAS list. I was intrigued by right away because the title is a line from Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale. When I read the blurb, it talked about a pregnant cheerleader. I had preconceived notions as to how she found herself in that state, and I was wrong.

Hermione is co-captain of her cheerleading squad. She goes to a school where cheerleading is the only sport that does well. It's a big deal. At the beginning of the book, Hermione and her squad are headed to cheer camp right before school starts. She is dating a boy on the squad, Leo, who thinks it's cute to give her a box of condoms because he expects things from their relationship. In fact, Leo expects that Hermione spend all her time with him, and he can't deal when she doesn't.

Near the end of camp, there is a dance. Hermione receives a cup of punch from someone at the dance, and when she goes to throw the cup away, she starts to feel funny. Someone put a roofie in her drink. You guessed it, this poor girl is raped at camp. Sadly, or maybe thankfully, Hermione doesn't have any recollection that this happened. She is found unconscious by the lake, and it is obvious what has happened.

When she gets back to her hometown, she has to wait a couple of weeks to take a pregnancy test, and unfortunately, she is. Rumors abound at school, including those spread by her boyfriend that she got what was coming to her, and that she was asking for it because she was talking to other guys. This made me hate Leo even more than I already did, by the way.

Luckily for Hermione, she has some really great people in her life to help her through all of this. She has tough choices to make, and never really gets a chance to move on. She still cheers, and works hard to make something of herself, but without the closure of the rape, dark clouds will hang over her head.

I enjoyed this book. It was very real, and relevant, given all the information we are being inundated with regarding the Stanford rape trial and its unfair sentencing. This book sheds light on a growing problem in our society, and I feel that it will be of some good to anyone who reads it.