The Age of Rape

This is a story of a raped girl. The girl came from the wrong side of the tracks and the accused is the son of the sheriff, who can do no wrong. The book beings after Romy’s rape. She still attends the same school, but with an even higher level of intensity as the town joke and outcast. Nobody believes her and even her best friend betrayed her after the incident. After all, how could it be rape if she was actively pursuing a relationship with the accused?

Romy feels like a dead girl after the rape and the only time she feels like her normal self from before, is at her place of employment. At work nobody knows her back story. It is when her betraying ex-best friend unexpectedly comes to her work that everything explodes. It is not an action story, but there is a level of mystery involved that keeps the story moving along.

All the Rage has so many levels. The more I think about it the more I decide that it is brilliant in its own way. It moves slowly with bursts of suspense. I think that actually makes it more powerful. Everything is not always laid out for you. At times it is confusing, but to me that mirrors Romy’s character. She is confused and does crazy and reckless things to try and feel (or sometimes not feel) something.

Romy is obsessed with her perfect red lips and red nails. It is detailed many times the exact process she takes with these things before she is ready. At first I couldn’t figure out the point behind telling us this over and over. But like I said, not everything it laid out for you. I got the impression that the reason Romy is obsessed with her nail and lip routine (which I believe started after the rape) is multi-leveled. It could be that she uses it as the one thing in her life which she can control. Or, it could be a mask for her to hide behind. Another part of me wondered if the routine was actually used to draw attention so others would look at her. That they would hear her story instead of looking through her. It could be all three or even more based on what she was feeling at that certain moment.

I remember in high school learning about all the symbolism that can be found in a book. I hated it. I had a friend who wrote a short story for the class and the teacher found a bunch of symbolism in it that changed her story into something that she didn’t want to portray. Maybe that is how authors think of us now when we try and critique their work. “You are getting it all wrong!” Then again, that seems to be what makes a great story. When you can get so much more than the author even planned with their simple storytelling.

I loved this book. It had great character development and kept you thinking even after the book ended. You want to figure out why certain characters acted the way they did, why parts of the story were mentioned over and over. I wish I had read this for a book club. I want to discuss what others thought about it before everything falls through the cracks.

P.S. The book has some naughty words with a few descriptive sentences thrown in. It has a tendency to make the horror more real. It is not for those who wish to avoid such things.