Mini-Review (DNF)

Ireland: Tiny 15 year old Shannon, who thinks she’s ugly although everyone else thinks she’s beautiful, is being hideously bullied at her local school (and physically abused by her father at home), so her mother takes out a loan to move her to a private school. On her first day at school, she meets Johnny, a 6 foot 3, muscular rugby star, who is almost immediately attracted to her/obsessed with her. He needs to focus on his rugby and also recover from his groin injury. Nevertheless, he feels protective of Shannon and warns everyone on the rugby team not to go talking about her.

That was as far as the Amazon free sample went. I read it because it is very popular at school right now, so I wanted to check it out. We don’t stock it in the school library, and based on what I read, we definitely won’t be changing that situation. The writing is simplistic, frequently vulgar, and problematic in a number of ways. Someone online described it as poorly written Normal People fanfic, and I’d agree in spirit (though in fact Binding 13 was first published the month before Rooney’s book). This book is chunky, too: 816 pages.

Books that I’d suggest for students who like the romantic drama of Binding 13:

• Normal People – Irish, romantic drama, class & privilege, abusive father… but also actually good writing.
• The Eternal Return of Clara Hart – English, rugby players, toxic masculinity & teen romance… also good writing.