Discussion Review: 7 Days by Eve Ainsworth
What: 7 Days by Eve Ainsworth
Who: Scholastic
When: February 5th 2015
How: A copy of this novel was provided by Scholastic UK for review.
This bold, compelling and topical story about bullying is told from the perspective of the bully and the bullied. You won’t be able put it down until you’ve reached the conclusion. Jess’s life is difficult enough without Kez picking on her – it’s turning school from a safe place into a nightmare. Kez has plenty of problems too but she finds comfort in knowing she is better off than Jess – or so she thinks. A hard-hitting and even-handed look at bullying and the issues facing teenagers today.
my thoughts
I have never liked the whole “bullies are victims too” or “bullies do it for a reason” or “bullies are just insecure themselves” thing.
No. NO.
I do not care if someone has the worst life in the world. Full of pain and death and suffering of every kind on this planet. You do not bully someone because of that. You do not bring someone else down because you might feel like shit. You do not give someone hell because you might be going through hell yourself. You. Do. Not. Bully. Anyone. Ever. For. Any. Reason.
Having a shit life is no excuse for bullying. Because there is no excuse for bullying. Bullying is disgusting, and has consequences, and I feel nothing – absolutely nothing – for bullies.
So when I realised that that was the kind of crap that 7 Days was trying to pull, I knew it wasn’t going to be the book for me. I also knew that I couldn’t rate it, because on the one hand it wasn’t written all that badly, and the chapters alternating between Jess and Kez were clearly defined, but on the other hand I am so completely opposed to the terrible message that this book is sending out into the world that rating it would be more of a reflection of that than anything else.
That message is along the lines of the ones stated at the beginning of this review. That bullies are victims themselves, that they have a “reason” for bullying someone, and that they are insecure. And like I also said: I don’t believe in this. At all. In any way whatsoever.
So it’s okay to make someone’s life a living hell just because you’re in pain? Is that something that we should be sending out into the universe? That you can forgive the bully that nearly killed you just because you find out that their dad is an abusive fuckwad? That bullies realise that they aren’t nice human beings and decide to change? That the bullied girl gets a really nice boy at the end of it all?
Because that, my friends, is shit. This doesn’t happen in real life. Bullying isn’t forgivable. Most bullies never realise that they are terrible human beings for being cruel to others. And when is there ever a cute, popular guy who sticks up for the bully? Never.
The only accurate portrayal of bullying in this book is how completely incompetent teachers are. They never realise. And then when the bullying is brought to their attention, they flounder and have no ways of actually making it stop.
7 Days was not a novel I enjoyed, and do not recommend.
In closing: bullying is never okay. There is no “reason” to bully. Bullying is not forgivable.
© 2015, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.
I’m so glad that you decided to post this review! I hadn’t heard of this book and now I’m going to avoid it. While I don’t mind that there are books out now showing the bully’s perspective, I haven’t read any of them and know that if they try to make them sympathetic I’d react the same way you did! It’s just a shitty way to treat readers who’ve been through or witnessed bullying themselves, completely unrealistic, and if someone takes this message to heart it could be dangerous.
Thank you! Yep, this is definitely NOT a book I would be recommending any time soon. Like you, I can appreciate the dual perspective in a bullying story, but not so much one that tries to “explain away” the actions of the bully.
Yup, pretty much my thoughts when I read this one. I even read the author’s note and went what the hell, you just can’t justify bullying no matter how shit your life is you just cannot inflict that pain onto someone else. That makes you a bad person.
I know, right? I was just so pissed off at this book in general.
Okay, totally staying away from this one. This reminds me of Tease, which despite acquiring several copies (won and received), I still haven’t read because of the reviews and reactions to the story. I’m all for reading an issue from ‘the other perspective’ but to preach and justify that bullies do what they do because they have a shit life? Hell to the no. So sorry you had to suffer through this read, Chiara.
I know, right? I haven’t read much about Tease, but if it is similar, I will definitely be staying away…
And this is exactly why I hate people who romanticise Snape’s relationship with Lily. Like, that is not okay. At all. He was a bully and a horrible person and it annoys me that people think it’s okay because he was in love.
This one’s on my TBR but not sure I’ll get to it now.
I recently read about how Snape was also a bully to the kids when Harry went to Hogwarts, and I’m just like: yep, he really kinda was.
I don’t really recommend it >.<
Yikes. I was considering picking 7 Days up, but if it promotes this kind of message, I’m rethinking that decision. Although I do like to understand people and how they tick, so to speak – after all, why else do we read if not to get a glimpse into the characters’ lives? – justifying bullying with weak (and, I might add, outdated) defences is just so, so wrong. Skipping over this one.
(PS: I could be wrong about this, but I’m not sure my comments are getting through on the author blog – have you received any from me over the past couple of days? I’m thinking your spam filter may have gobbled them up…)
Yeah, I felt like the “reason” for the bullier was really very cliched, and I think there could have been a lot more depth to it. I don’t really recommend this book, to be honest.
I have no idea why you keep going to spam! I mark you as “not spam” every time, but it keeps on disobeying me *shakes fist*
The bullies topic and discussion has been prevalent in lit for a long time and it is something that has always made me really uncomfortable. I can’t really read books where bullying takes place, especially when it’s the manipulative, friendship, emotional bullying- I feel like I recognise it and have experienced it too well to actually stand reading. AAH. Now I’m getting all emotional. Bullying sucks. Bullying and the things that make people bully- because I know you can have something happen that leads to you becoming a bully, even if it isn’t right or unacceptable. It’s such a horrible thing to have happen and I don’t understand how people don’t realise how long lasting the effects are, how easily you can ruin someone by such a simple, bitter act. Yes, you may feel awful or something terrible might be happening in your life and all you can think to do is hurt other people, but I just wish there was a focus on turning away from that, on consciously choosing not to hurt others. It seems like a scary, murky area and I don’t know how someone must feel to become a bully, even if I can’t condone it in any way. I guess I still can feel sorry, that they’ve been hurt, too. It’s all pretty messed up.
So I don’t think this is something I’d be able to get through. It’s just way too uncomfortable for me.
*hugging you* Bullying really IS terrible, and don’t worry about being emotional. Bullying is a seriously emotional topic, and it’s completely understandable.
I really think this book could have done with exploring the other avenues available to people when they’re going through shitty times. Instead of having her bully the other girl, and then gain forgiveness – there could have been exploration of counselling, or any other activities that would have been assisting. I just felt like this book didn’t get down to the message it tried to convey.
I don’t blame you for not wanting to pick this up, I certainly wouldn’t have if I’d known what it was like.
This is a great discussion Chiara, and I agree with you completely, while I haven’t gone through serious bullying I’ve been through some (I’m sure most people have) and there is no excuse, someone who needs to make other feel bad to remedy their own pain isn’t deserving of any kind of compassion. Have you read Tease by Amanda Maciel? That’s also a book in the perspective of the bully and while it was hard to read at times because the main character was such a terrible person, I found it much more true to the real bullying situation, it showed the bully had reasons but still firmly acknowledged those reasons weren’t enough and that they were still a bad person.
Great post!
(p.s. Just to explain the new title next to my name, I changed my blog name from midnight pageturners to this :D )
Thank you, Safah!
I don’t think I could pick up another bullying book anytime soon. But it sounds like it might have tackled the issue a little bit better than this one.
I’m glad you liked it :) And I love the new title!
This is kind of hard to write, so I’ll do my best.
I’ve played the role of both the victim and the bully. Neither was anything I ever want to be but that being said, I have a very different opinion on this matter.
Having been bullied, I know how easy it is to blame them. They took EVERYTHING away from us. I still have confidence issues because of the entire class ganging up against me and these problems happened years ago. Shit, the things people do to others leaves scars and some of them don’t ever heal.
And I’m not saying that I defend bullies at all – I don’t. What they do is inexcusable but I understand why they do the things they do. It’s a whole other place when you feel like you can’t have power over anything. It’s disgusting and that’s why the victim becomes the bullying. Some people become so filled with hate that they inflict it on others. it’s sad – it’s terrible and I hate that I along with others have done this sort of thing.
I don’t think i could read this book because what you described the bully to “get’ is ridiculous. Sure, bullies can be insecure; they can have their own baggage and even though the proper thing is to GET HELP. Some fall through the cracks. I mean, the only thing I ever got was years of regret and scars in different forms. Even though the situation happened back in grade six and the worst thing that happened was that people were scared of my “violent tendencies.Even this post is making me feel more ashamed of something that happened years ago. I’ll never be able to take anything bad I’ve done back. I know that the things I made make me a bad person but even so, I’d always wished that somehow, I could find repentance but obviously from this post, that isn’t the case.
PS: You do know who I am. The reason I’m anon is because I’d rather if your view of me is of what I am now vs. what i told you I used to be.
Firstly, I NEVER wrote this post with the intention of making someone feel shitty. I wrote it because this is how the book made me feel.
Secondly, the fact that you DO feel remorse for what you’ve done is brave. And the fact that you realise it’s wrong is a GOOD thing. Repentance is subjective. Things can also be forgiven but not forgotten. But if those days are truly behind you, and if you’ve made it up by being a nice person, or apologising, or standing up for people who are being bullied NOW, or are a member of an anti-bullying school/university/work campaign, then you’re on track, okay?
Third, I’m sorry that the people around you didn’t respond the way they should have. That’s terrible, and schools really can deal with this kind of thing in the worst way.
I appreciate your honest comment, and that you’ve shared this with me. I am sending you many good vibes for the future.