The Word for Yes

Starred review from December 1, 2015
In the aftermath of a devastating incident at a high school party, three sisters struggle to help one another. Melanie has always resented her older sister Erika, a beautiful wunderkind with few social skills. Now that the eldest sister, Jan, has left for college, they're left with a mother lost in her work and in her new life after leaving their father. Under the weight of these new growing pains, Melanie is overrun with emotions, and her bullying of Erika has never been harsher. But when Erika invites Melanie and her friends to a Halloween party, everything changes. Erika discovers Melanie unconscious and half-dressed on a bearskin rug. As blurry memories come together, a close friend's intentions are questioned. Embarrassed, Melanie makes it clear to Erika that no one is to ever find out. And at college, Jan has too many problems to help either of them. Each sister must find her way back to the others before she can truly heal. Melanie, Erika, and those orbiting them thrum with all the sharp edges and beauty of real people--no one is simple or predictable. Their story, much like real life, isn't clear-cut or easy to read, but it's very, very important. An engrossing story proving the hard truth that it isn't always strangers who hurt us the worst of all. (Fiction. 14-18)

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January 1, 2016

Gr 9 Up-Sisters Jan, Erika, and Melanie Russell have never been close. Eldest Jan is less present as she prepares for her first year at Brown. Effortlessly beautiful Erika with her science know-how and low social cognition has always been the beloved oddity in the family. Youngest Melanie, at 15, is still figuring out where she fits with her high-achieving parents and sisters. Things only get worse when Melanie's parents separate and her father moves from their Battery Park City apartment all the way to Hong Kong to research his latest book. Melanie expects to have a good time at a hot Halloween party despite Erika's presence. Instead, after drinking too much spiked punch, Melanie is sexually assaulted by Gerald, a boy who claims to love Melanie even though she has always kept him at a distance. In the wake of the rape, Erika is sure the crime should be reported while Melanie is desperate to get back to normal. Jan, away at Brown, struggles with how to go from being an overachieving high school student to what she quickly fears might be a mediocre college freshman. Written in third person, this debut alternates chapter viewpoints to follow each sister and even Gerald throughout the novel. While the book joins Aaron Hartzler's What We Saw (HarperCollins) and Nancy Ohlin's Consent (S. & S., both 2015) in the important conversation about rape and sexual assault, it fails to add anything new to that discussion and falls short compared to classics such as Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak or Chris Lynch's Inexcusable. This work ultimately lacks the depth to offer anything but a quick read that takes on too much. VERDICT While this should be applauded for attempts to thoughtfully discuss issues surrounding rape and includes some level of diversity, this novel is ultimately too slight to be anything but a forgettable issue-driven story.-Emma Carbone, Brooklyn Public Library

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