Book Review: Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf by Hayley Krischer
With heavy topics that are so important to talk about today, my review for Something Happened to Ali Greanleaf will give you all the details that you need to decide if this book is right for you. I believe, though, that it is the type of book that everyone needs to read once.
Book Information
Ali Greenleaf has an intense crush on a popular guy named Sean, but as she meets him for the first time, he rapes her. Sean then asks his best friend, Blythe, to talk to Ali and smooth things over. As Blythe gets closer to Ali, though, she and Ali both begin to realize how manipulated they have been, and how corrupt their school might be.
Review | Heidi Dischler
Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf has many many triggers, so please be cautious as you read it.
The novel was in my top 20 books of 2020 (for good reason). Ali is a kind, cute, maybe not-so-popular girl, and Krischer writes her character perfectly. The inexperience, the confusion, the absolute trauma that Ali experiences is so well encapsulated. I’ve read a lot of books dealing with this subject matter trying to understand why rape is even a thing. That power-dynamic that Krischer writes into Sean’s character feels like it is so realistic and not at all far from the truth. What I felt hurt the most about this book, though, was how Blythe treated Ali.
Spoilers ahead.
Was it just me, or did the fact that a girl was trying to cover up another girl’s rape really infuriate you?? Blythe’s blatant disregard for Ali’s pain in the beginning really disturbed me. I get that she was trying to protect her best friend and that she loved him on some deeper level, but doing something that heinous made Sean irredeemable in my eyes. Not to mention that when Ali confronted him, he hardly even said anything at all! How do you understand someone is a human being and still have such disregard for their life, their hopes and dreams, their feelings?
I would recommend this book to everyone if I could because the lesson here is so important. I also want to highly recommend reading the Author’s Note as it makes the book feel that much more intimate.
Overall, Krischer’s novel is so powerful in the way that it explores this difficult topic from brand new angles and perspectives. It is wonderfully written and perfectly executed with Ali in the center as a survivor. That word isn’t an accurate description, though. She did more than just survive—as I hope all those who experience trauma do—she overcame.
Source: Audiobook from Audible
