Emma O’Donovan is like many teenage girls of the selfie generation. She’s attractive, confident, selfish, and bitchy. Girl politics is rife and beauty is paramount. Emma and her girlfriends revel in weekends of parties and foolish behaviour. Everyone behaves badly.
Consent is a grey area and you’re encouraged not to make a fuss when things don’t go too well. So what happens when a situation does go horribly wrong? Tumbling down the rabbit hole of modern youth gone awry, this is a book on point, of its time, and totally disturbing. Speaking clearly to its generation in a language they understand, Asking for It by Louise O’Neil raises more big questions than it answers, and for some, it will be quite harrowing, but in the age of Roast Busters it’s an important read.
Hachette, $25.
