The Female of the Species... A Hard Read

This book was challenging, but definitely not in a bad sense. I don't think I've ever struggled so much emotionally with a book. This one left me in tears at least twice, both times almost ended in my shutting the book and never opening it again.

The beginning was hard to get into because I wasn't exactly sure what I was reading or where it was going. The first sentence of the book had seemingly nothing to do with the main story, but I kept reading nonetheless. I'm very glad that I did, because I became so emotionally tied up in this book that I actually plowed through the bulk of it in about two days, one of which was Thanksgiving day.

The plot centers around Alex Craft, who knows how to kill someone. She is the main character in the story, however not the only one. The story is told from the perspective of three people, each chapter through another's eyes. Alex is a loner who doesn't have many friends, and has quite a few family problems. One of which happens to be that her older sister, Anna, was found brutally murdered in their small town, which makes Alex "the one with the dead sister" and causes her other to turn into an alcoholic ghost. Shortly after Anna's death, her killer is also found dead in his own home. When Anna's body is found, a group of teenagers are "fooling around" nearby. One of these teenagers is Jack, the second character who tells his part of the story, and who later ends up in an unlikely relationship with Alex. Lastly, there's Claire, or "Peekay" (P.K.) which is her nickname for "Preacher's Kid." She works with Alex at an animal shelter, and becomes Alex's friend under quick and unlikely circumstances.

The book tells of these character's senior year, and all of the mishaps they encounter, some of which are pretty brutal. It's not a book for the faint of heart, as it does involve violence, alcohol, and sexual assault. This may be a YA novel, but it's unlike anything I've read before. It was extremely original and kept me guessing and to be honest, I never saw any of the ending coming. It just. Kept. Surprising me.

The reason this book sucked me in emotionally was that Mindy McGinnis's writing style really outlined the true feelings of the characters, which was in a way that made it extremely relatable. She explores the anxiety of graduating and losing all of your friends in the way that involves just drifting apart until they're a speck, and also the feeling of loving someone so much that your way of life changes and you begin to only see yourself with them, true love, and not the sappy unrealistic kind that most books portray. This level of love is scary, and it's something I've felt before.

The book was hard to read for me because I could see myself in the positions of the characters, and when things started to go badly, I saw myself there, so I didn't want to finish reading out of fear for it, but in a way, this book helped me with those fears. I won't say this book has a happy ending, but it's one that has a character for everyone, and I think it's a great book for 17-18 year olds to read, because it's a story that almost forces maturity onto the reader. I would highly recommend this book, and even without a very happy ending, I'm so happy I read it.

#MindyMcGinnis #TheFemaleoftheSpecies