Book Review: The Female of the Species
If you keep up on my blog, then you know that one of the books I was currently reading was The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis. Here recently, I finished reading the book, and boy do I have some things to say about it!
This story is told in three alternating viewpoints. The first viewpoint is from Alex Craft, a girl who is consumed with a sense of vengeance after the brutal death of her older sister, Anna. The second is Jack Fisher, an athletic and sexually active boy who eventually becomes Alex’s boyfriend. The third is Peekay, nicknamed this because PK stands for “preacher’s kid” who struggles with a break-up. It takes place in a small town where everyone knows everybody’s business (don’t we just love those towns?).
Three years prior to the beginning of the story, Anna Craft’s remains are found in the woods. Because the evidence had been sabotaged by animals and the elements, her killer is released and cleared of all charges. Alex sees this as an injustice and decides to take the law into her own hands. This results in her killing him, but because of the crime he committed, police were not very eager to solve his case and ruled it as an accident. Alex is the kind of girl who claims to “feel too much” so she doesn’t associate herself as a psychopath or a sociopath. She calls herself vengeance, and as much as I don’t condone violence, this is pretty badass.
Aside from Alex’s point of view, we also have Jack and Peekay. Jack is a stereotypical jock in every way. He participates in almost all the school sports, he’s very popular and well liked, and he likes to have sex, particularly with a cheerleader named Branley. The two have been friends since they were kids, but as they got older, their friendship turned into an arrangement where they have sex with each other. At first, I didn’t like Jack. He had gotten high and drunk more than he should, he objectified women, and the only things he thought about were sports, getting into college, and sex. He knows of Alex, and is fascinated by her. He wants to get to know her, but he doesn’t know where to start, and naturally, I’m thinking “You better stay away from my girl!” because I was afraid that this guy would destroy her.
Peekay is the daughter of the town preacher. Having grown up with the word of God shoved down her throat, Peekay longs to break away from this identity that everyone has given her so she can be her own person. I found this weird because in the efforts to break from this image, she allows people to continue to call her by her nickname instead of her real name, which is Claire. She parties and drinks, but she doesn’t sleep around. Her boyfriend, Adam, cheated on her with Branley, and instead of blaming him for his mistake, Peekay blames Branley and basically slut-shames her for liking sex. She thinks about hurting Branley, but wouldn’t dream in a million years about following through. She and Alex volunteer at an animal shelter as a part of a senior experience program, so eventually, the two become friends.
Now, this story is very character driven. We see these three characters behave a certain way. Alex is violent towards others and awkward when it comes to socializing. She’s detached from society. Jack is a jock who thinks more about when he’s going to get laid than anything else. And Peekay is hung up and whining about her boyfriend cheating on her, but blames the girl for his mistake. I won’t get into too much detail because I don’t want to spoil the story for anyone, but as the book progresses, these three characters, through the connections with each other and other characters, begin to drastically change. Alex rejoins society and makes some friends, Jack begins to develop healthy relationships with other girls and starts to respect them more, and Peekay begins to emphasize and forgive Branley.
Another thing I want to address about the book are the themes it talks about. This is a very mature book with themes of violence, rape, sexual assault, sexism, drinking, and drugs, and about how society views these themes as a whole. It is painstakingly dark, twisted, true, and harsh, because this is how the world works. Mindy McGinnis does not hold back whatsoever when it came to writing about these topics, and I can’t help but admire her for it. She depicts very accurately how society addresses rape culture and violence, and it’s downright sad. This book makes you sit down and really think about your own views on these topics and opens your eyes to the harsh reality.
I want to talk about a scene in the story that really struck a nerve in me. If you wish to remain completely unaware of the events in the book, or have a hard time with these topics yourself, then I ask you to skip this next paragraph. I will unbold this portion of the article for you so it will be easier to distinguish.
There is a scene in the story where Alex, Jack, and Peekay attend a party at a rundown church. There is booze, drinking, and a group of sketchy tweakers. After Peekay breaks away from the group, drunk out of her mind, she goes to talk to the tweakers. One in particular, Ray Parsons, spikes her drink and attempts to drag her out to the woods so he and his friends can rape her. Before this tragic event happens, Alex catches them in the act and stops them. After making sure Peekay was okay, Alex rips a nose chain that was connected to Ray’s ear right off his face. It is a very gory scene and in the chapters that follow, all people can talk about regarding that night is the fact that Alex basically mutilated a guy, not the fact that one of their fellow classmates was almost sexually assaulted. This really pissed me off, because people were more disgusted by the amount of violence Alex displayed against the would-be rapist and not the attempted rape. Yes, there was a better way Alex should have handled the situation, but hello! A girl was almost raped, and all you can think about is a nose chain? Seriously? It made me very upset because we see too much of this in real life.
People constantly victim shaming, slut-shaming, making rape jokes, objectifying women, and saying or doing other horrible things. Some people are even too afraid to start a discussion about these topics. But we need to start educating people about the importance of consent. We need to teach people to be aware and unafraid to speak up, but most importantly, we need to teach people that rape is wrong and that when a woman says no, either by verbally and physically stating or implying means no. Period. We also need to establish the fact that women should be respected, regardless of their sexual preferences. It’s okay for a woman to enjoy sex just as much as any guy, and squashing these double standards is key to eliminating this problem.
Despite the events in the book, I encourage readers who can handle addressing these topics to read this book. It does contain some triggers, so if you uncomfortable talking about these subjects for personal reasons, then you shouldn’t read this book. I also want to include some hotlines and numbers you can call if you are ever in these situations. These hotlines are available nationally and open 24 hours 7 days a week if you ever need them.
Rape, Abuse and Incest National Hotline 1.800.656.HOPE | www.rainn.org
Planned Parenthood 1.800.230.7526 | www.plannedparenthood.org
National Domestic Violence Hotline 1.800.799.SAFE (7233) or 1.800.787.3224 | www.thehotline.org
If there is one thing I took out of this book, it’s that we need to keep this discussion going.
I hope you enjoyed this article and decide to pick up The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis. Feedback is much appreciated. I’m on social media if you’d like to connect with me there as well. I hope everyone has a good day and thank you for taking the time to read this article. Again, please pick up this book, because it is truly a great and powerful read you will not regret.