What Girls Are Made of

I read this because someone I know wanted it banned. I found it informative, interesting, and nothing to be concerned about in terms of the content.

If you are a person, specifically of Christian faith, this book is very depressing. SPOILER ALERT WARNING AND TRIGGER WARNINGS: This book details explicit acts of a MINOR. SICK is all I can say. How is it legal to even sell something like this? The book details the life of Nina, whose father never seems to be around at all. Her mother takes her on a trip to Europe when she is 14 and forces her daughter to get drunk so that her “first time getting drunk” is with the mother. The mother seems emotionally abusive as she tells the girl all love is conditional and that unconditional love does not exist (hence why I wouldn’t recommend this book to Christians; unless you are going to read it and then have a conversation with your daughter about how the worldviews expressed in the book are the opposite of how God views us, values & loves us. Nina also has an abortion in the book & expresses “relief” after it is done & reflects on the fact that it was the best decision she’d ever made for herself in her entire life and how it may be the best decision she ever makes in her entire life. There are numerous graphic sexual acts detailed; which seems highly inappropriate for a book whose suggested audience is 14-17 year old girls. There are also disturbing short stories sprinkled throughout the book that are dark & gory. Hence the word “gore” in the subtitle of the book, I suppose. I will preface the next comment by stating I know virtually nothing of Catholicism; there are numerous stories of “virgin martyrs” with very graphic stories about young girls/women who “pledge” their virginity to Jesus and are brutally eliminated by men they have infuriated by rejecting said men. Her mother also discusses some artwork that is supposed to depict St. Theresa “having an orgasm”. It’s all very bizarre. Christianity is referenced once in modern day context by a friend of Nina. Her friend, Bekah, mentions her “crazy right winged Christian” relatives. Overall, there is a tremendous amount of morbidity and sex in the book. Those are the main themes in my opinion. I will agree with the author that women have been conditioned to exist for the enjoyment and pleasure of men. But if you are a Christian parent, there surely have to be better books or just frank conversations to acknowledge this with your daughter. Books or conversations that ultimately point them to Christ and their value as a human being made in the image of God and holding EQUAL value and importance as a man. From a literary perspective, I felt the book had a tone of a middle aged woman trying to write the voice of a teen. Something about it just had a feel of someone who experienced teenage-hood 20 years ago & gave it a dated feel (even though it’s clearly set in today’s time because there are references to Nina looking up things on her phone etc). The end of the book falls flat for me. Her father seems to have disappeared, for how long? A day? Forever? Who knows. Her mother is passed out asleep. She goes on a hike and basically realizes she has worth as a human being. That part is good, that she finally seems to have some ounce of confidence and autonomy. But it’s all from a very worldly perspective. She never tells her ex boyfriend she was pregnant or had an abortion (he breaks up with her before she finds out she’s pregnant). And she gives all the gory bizarre macabre stories she’s written to Appollonia (the girl who is with her boyfriend before and after he dates her). There is no follow up with that. Does Appollonia read them? Burn them? Trash them 2 seconds later? Oh, and another trigger warning on top of all those already mentioned; Nina volunteers at a high kill animal shelter & there are some very sad stories sprinkled throughout the book about the shelter. This is not an uplifting book. My review is really directed strictly towards people who hold a Christian worldview & believe they have value based on the fact that God loves them and has stated they have value because they are made in the image of God. If you are a Christian; there have to be better books that show the realities of life being full of difficulties and trials, but aren’t full of graphic sex, and violence, & death. Also, there is some mention towards the beginning of the book where Nina references some mystic who is quoted and the quote is interpreted as the mystic recounting “sexual” encounters with Jesus. There is also a reference later in the book about some female saint who supposedly has some sort of “vision” of “Jesus placing a wedding band made of Jesus’ foreskin” on her ring finger and “only she can see it”. Bottom line: The book is blasphemous and very anti-God.

Tw: depiction and/or of (abortion, pap smear, sex, masturbation, and animal death) neglectful parents, and alcoholismThis was a very honest, and almost reflective take on teenage girlhood. The way it explored insecurities of love, the question of 'unconditional love actually existing between people', finding what is a love for that person, sexual exploration, and self worth.I enjoy the subtle ties between the difference of both conditional and unconditional love to how people love people vs animals loving people. The heroine was a unlikeable in the sense that she seem to fix herself for this guy that didn't really appear to like her that much only to go back to his ex. The random excepts of her short stories in between didn't work for me. It just confused me, pulled me out of the story at time in comparison to the ones about the sculptures in Italy that connected to the time she went to Italy with her mother.The conflict with the main character and the love interest's ex was underdeveloped. It didn't feel like there was a much of conflict and if there was it looked resolved already. Only difference was the connection between the two girls and boy. Overall a solid read.

Great book for teen girls in high school!

My version is missing pages 23-54. Seems like a good book, but I think you need those pages.