Alicia Rivers is navigating how to deal with her sexual trauma from a popular teacher. It has altered everything about her and her life to the point where she isn't sure that she recognizes herself. When she starts getting notes that allude to another victim, Alicia really starts to question if she's coping in a way that is helping.

Written in verse, did allow for the author to have some moments were everything hit really hard. The shortness of the novel pushed for creativity in words to nail the point home and I believe Cole did really well with that.

I did like how Medusa was brought into this and tied into it. It wasn't what I expected, but I did enjoy it. I loved how she found so much strength in Medusa. It was easy to see how much finding Medusa and her story helped Alicia with her own.

Cole also talks about a number of issues and nothing ever really felt overshadow by one issue or another. They were all mentioned and talked about within their own right. All the topics mentioned, I know will be important to a number of people, especially those this is geared towards, as they try and navigate the world.

While there were moments that I thought were incredibly powerful and overall this is a great story, I do feel like I missed some depth to it. There was just something missing for me that would have really made this a hard hitting piece that I would end up thinking about again and again.

Overall, this is a powerful story. With it written in verse, I think that does have moments were it makes it more powerful. It's one that I do think, if you are in a position where you can read it, that this should be read.

I’ve been sitting on the review because it is hard to put into words what I feel about Dear Medusa. Books like these are so important. It was beautifully written, and as expected with books written in verse, the emotions jump off the page. The story is told through the POV of Alicia who is sexually assaulted by a teacher. Following the assault Alicia quits track and becomes a shell of herself, losing her friends and the connection to her family. There is LGBTQ+ representation throughout not only with the MC but also the SC Deja and Geneva, who befriend Alicia despite everything proving to she is still worthy of love. Medusa was not a huge part of Alicia’s story, but there was some mentions as Alicia related to the story of Medusa - assaulted by a male in a position of power.

It's got a lot of power in the voice that at the end you understand as a reader comes from Olivia A Cole's own experiencing in sharing (based on her acknowledgements and who she thanks). She wants to share the story of Alicia to be able to help get out the grief, frustration, anger, annoyances, etc. etc. because it all started with shaming and took off from there.

A girl cannot be sexual. Then she becomes a victim that no one believes. And at the hands of a teacher. Until there are more. It's got a lot going for it because of the verse but it borders on constant anger which was exhausting (but necessary) to the story and making connections to mythology and particularly Medusa was a connector, though not unique as more YA is bringing in mythology to either parallel the main character or show an understanding (like Julie Berry's [book:Lovely War|44107480]). The device channels the frustrations when other things seem to just be pushed forward without any thought or consideration for the sake of the story because she's certainly in need of help (reminds me of [book:The Way I Used to Be|23546634]).

This is one of the most powerful and searing novels I've ever read. It's almost painful to read, but at the same time, it's incredibly necessary.

It's ultimately empowering and I think it'll change a lot of lives.

Highly recommended.

Stunning.
Beautiful.
Powerful.
Restorative.

I was terrified to begin Dear Medusa. The subject matter stirs up plenty of things from my own past that I'm not prepared to handle (and I'm well into adulthood), but I love Olivia's other work (I miss Tasha!!! lol), so I bought the audio and the ebook.

I started with the ebook, and I latched on immediately. Too often, the "novel in verse" makes for stunted reading for me (yes my inner voice wants to read it like bad spoken word from the 90s). This wasn't the case here! The language just flows and (main character) Alicia is just talking to you. You're reading her diary, reading her texts, and halfway through, I switched to the audiobook. Olivia's got a deep voice, which makes the words reverberate more (even at 1.2x speed), and as Alicia's passions unfold, and she begins to shed her red riding hood (there be wolves here!), Olivia's reading intensifies. You're left wondering just how much of this is autobiography (and I swear lemme at the Colonel! I don't just wanna talk...) and how much is fiction.

Highly recommend. You will reread sections, screenshot others and send them to friends at 2am and 10am and 8pm, and wonder why they haven't started reading it yet so you can talk to them about it...

**Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Childrens/Labyrinth Road for this ARC in exchange for an honest review**

*All quotes mentioned are from the published version of the book.*

First thing's first: this book had very diverse representation. The main character is bisexual, and side characters are asexual, Black, lesbian, Muslim, and Pakistani.

Alicia Rivers is a 16 year-old girl about to start her junior year at Marshall High School, but something happened last year that haunts her, especially when she must go back to the scene of the crime: her school. Cole reminds us that sometimes it is the ones we trust the most to be good people are the ones who strike: "They all blur together eventually: actors, singers, priests, presidents, teachers, mentors, respected members of society. Everyone is always so surprised when the fleece comes off, when the wolf is unsheathed..."

She is also dealing with the loss of her best friend, Sarah. One day at the bus stop before leaving her alone there, she said: "We are two different people and I think it's better if I pray for you from a distance. Right now I need to unburden my soul before I can help you." She now goes to a Christian school and thinks she is better than Alicia for many reasons, including the fact that she is still a "pure" virgin. However, Sarah had no problem stealing or smoking cigarettes. As soon as Alicia started having sex, she knew it was a matter of time until their friendship would be over. There are multiple instances where Alicia tells us what she believes Sarah would say about certain situations, without knowing the whole story of course. Even Alicia's mother comments that, "Sarah was always a judgy little bitch." Despite this, she does miss her because she was the only friend she had for the longest time, and she is quite lonely. She even says, "There should be a special word for the kind of heartbreak that comes not from a lover but from a friend." Sarah's judgment follows Alicia all throughout the story.

Alicia has worked at Meat Palace for two years. Her manager just got replaced by Terry because the last manager, Joey, got caught setting up a fake robbery. Terry is described as "creepy" and "pervy," and she can already see him coming after her one day: "I know it will come - it always does when men like Terry take your silence for consent or better yet total ignorance. They know if you can claim not to know that they can too." Later on in the book, Terry walks in on her in the storage closet after Sarah and her mom show up in the drive thru: "The door opens behind me, and I turn expecting to see Debbie. It's Terry. He's wearing the face that I've seen on other snouts: the concern mask. The one that pretends to be serious, but behind the serious is something sparkling." Among her other Meat Palace co-workers are Mariah [the misanthrope], Stephanie (shift manager), Debbie, Rodney, and Forrest. The only one we hear anything about is Debbie though. Debbie has worked at Meat Palace since she was 16, and has even lost a finger there while slicing the beef. She is so kind. When she and Alicia take out the trash one day, she leaves the food stacked outside the dumpster so homeless people can have something to eat if they need it. "...Terry has never been hungry and I don't know what heaven he thinks he's getting into by dumping bread into mud but me and him must think about different gods when we pray." While out there, she also gives Alicia some advice that basically translates to 'don't end up like me.' : "Also, do me a favor, honey: quit this job and do something else with your precious time."

We never learn the actual name of her biology teacher that sexually abused her, only that he is referred to as "The Colonel" by everyone, and "The Devil" by her a couple of times. At first, even she had fallen under his spell:
"With the Colonel I walked into his classroom hating science, but wooed by the way he made everything a joke, always teasing, the cool teacher."
"...he made me feel safe..."
And then the spell was broken...
"I came to him as a student and he came to me as a teacher until one day he came to me as a wolf."
"I understand what happened. My biology teacher hurt me."
"...the simplest way to say it is that I was a student but he saw a rabbit and no one will believe me because he's the most beloved wolf in school."
"He is a well-hidden wolf."
The incident caused her to stop running track, and throughout the book, other students keep asking her why she stopped running track and if she would consider doing it again to help them out.

Cole uses the metaphor of the wolf to describe men who are predatory, and rabbits for the victims. Since the incident, Alicia really notices which men are wolves and what they're doing, whether it's a guy on the bus whipping out his penis and waving it close to her face, or the guy at Taco Bell eyeing her legs under the high top table she's sitting at, men catcalling her on the street, or even her optometrist touching her inappropriately in public for all to see. She is used to men not caring about her age, not even asking about it.

My favorite character in the book was Deja Duvall. She is always calling out racism, and also talks about being asexual in a world that is obsessed with sex:
"...they banned unaccompanied minors from shopping. It's code for Black teenagers. They think we steal."
"The only reason they haven't kicked my as out is because I'm with you. How does it feel, for your whiteness to be a shelter, a chaperone?"

She also mentions how she and Alicia are treated differently in regards to their hair, and when she wears an AIDS awareness bracelet, the school tells her she can't because those are gang colors in the handbook.

"I write about love but it's hard sometimes. I think my ideas about love are different than everybody else's."
"People seem to think so much about skin. I don't want anyone to touch me and it's not because anyone hurt me - it's just because sex isn't something I'm interested in. But I could write poems about love forever."
"People have sex without love all the time. You should be able to have love without sex."
"My friends always say I just haven't met the right person, and when I do I'll feel different about sex and attraction. But I really don't think so."
"My sister said, 'Just wait, you feel like this now, but one day you'll bloom like a sunflower.' But I already feel like a sunflower. I'm open, golden, glowing."
"Why do people find a way to think something is wrong with a girl no matter what? One minute we're not supposed to be having sex, but as soon as a girl doesn't want to have sex with ANYBODY, something's wrong with that too?"
"...you know what's some bullshit? Imaging how people are going to act if I tell them I'm asexual. Like, as a Black girl I REALLY can't win because on one tip, people make out Black girls to be TOO sexy, like everything we do is sex, even when we're just living life..."
"So, like, me being asexual, people will say YOU CAN'T BE ASEXUAL, YOU'RE TOO SEXY or whatever. But on the other tip, books and movies always cast the Black girl as the "friend" who never has boyfriend and shit, like nobody wants us, so if I say I'm asexual, people will be like OH YOU'RE PLAYING INTO A STEROTYPE OF BLACK GIRLS AS UNDESIRABLE. Like, I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't, and I just want to live my life..."
"It pisses me off because this all acts like sex is inevitable? Um, not for me! And it's not because the Virgin Mary is my bestie but because, like, this is who I am. It's not about being pure. I just wanna do what I wanna do."

Throughout the book there are two girls that Alicia focuses on: Blake and Geneva. Geneva is the new lesbian Pakastani girl that she has a crush on, and Blake is the girl she envies and thinks has a perfect life. This is yet another lesson we learn: things are not always as they seem. Blake doesn't have it all. She only keeps Devin around because he makes her feel safer. She was also a victim of The Colonel.

Dr. Kareem shows up to the school to do research on teenage girls. Alicia ends up being part of the group, and the girls all talk about what they're going through in their lives. Alicia mentions her loneliness and is tired of being call a slut. Deja talks about her asexuality, but still ends up feeling pretty invisible even when they talk about virginity and sluts. Prya Farooqi has to deal with the way the school treats Muslims vs Christians. Lena and Annika discuss the trans experience.

I wish we could have gotten to know if Alicia and Geneva ever officially get together or if Blake actually ended up reporting The Colonel and what the outcome of that was.


A list of teachers/school staff:

Mr. Warren - principal
Ms. Benton - dean of 11th grade
Mr. Upton - one of the two security guards (we never meet the other one)
Dr. Kareem - here to do research for her university (some kind of research about teenage girls, the challenges they face, and how they get inspired)
Mr. [Ricky] West - runs in-school adjustment program (ISAP)
Mrs. Gladstone - English
Ms. Gupta - art
Mrs. Fisher - algebra II
Mr. Hudson - history
Mr. Mattson - physics
Coach Tinsley - track coach

I’m a huge fan of novels in verse, it amazes me how vivid a picture a couple of carefully selected words can create. This novel does just that time and time again.

In the last year everything about Alicia’s life has changed, her best friend stopped talking to her, her parents split up, she no longer cares about school, and she’s started sleeping around since everyone sees her as a slut anyway. Alicia is a victim of sexual assault by a popular teacher but to others she’s the monster in her story. After making a new friend in detention, she starts to see the power she and other women hold to fight back against the “wolves” in their lives.

I really enjoyed the contrast between how Alicia and the other girl she finds out has been sexually assaulted handle things. It shows that there’s many different ways to try and cope with trauma. Despite many brilliant stanzas, when you put it all together I found the story to be a bit too repetitive. Obviously, repetition is important for a story like this but I don’t think Cole has managed to find the perfect balance. I was also a little disappointed by the ending. The story tells us over and over how many bad men there are out there, but it ends with most of them never facing any consequences and for those who do it’s only implied.

Overall, this is an excellent story and my critiques are relatively minor.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

I normally don't read books written in verse, as it's not a format I particularly enjoy. However, I can't imagine this story being told any other way. The verse format was really able to get at the emotional core of Alicia's experiences and helps tell her story.

Dear Medusa needs to be required reading for all high schoolers.

This YA novel in verse hit me hard. I kept highlighting my favorite phrases, reading them again and again as I was filled with righteous feminist rage.

READ THIS BOOK.

Read it to become a better person. Read it to stop the wolves. Read it to save a life.

Trigger warning: sexual assault of a minor

This was a very interesting way to tell the tale. I've read stories written this way before and I think it adds a level of gut wrench to the pain expressed. Lovely.

This was so beautifully written and powerful and you could feel the emotions flowing off the pages. It is a story that needs to be out in the world.

Novel In Verse sounds like an easy thing to read but the depth and emotion that Olivia Cole presented made my body ache and my stomach turn.

It was at every juncture of the journey that I felt, wholly and unmoving.

The story though similar to many girls was also eliciting such anger that I can't put into words how somehow as a girl who's gone through something similar I felt vindicated.

Everyone needs to read this book. Such a powerful message, and it's all told through poetry. Easily one of my top reads for the year.

Alicia’s story is told in poignant, searing verse that gives readers insight into the background of her emotions that are jagged, raw, and at times numb. Like Medusa, she is blamed for the circumstances that have made her who she is,so she attempts to shift the narrative of the patriarchal toxic masculinity that surrounds her. Simply spectacular!

I requested Dear Medusa by Olivia A. Cole for two reasons. One reason is that I have a morbid fascination with stories about survivors of sexual abuse. Mostly, I requested an e-galley because I needed to read something written in verse for one of my year-long reading challenges. While I read one book in verse many years ago, I am not a fan of poetry and actively avoid it. So, I started Ms. Cole's novel in verse with trepidation. Thankfully, I loved every line.

As you might suspect, the subject matter of Dear Medusa is not easy, but I believe telling her story in verse helps ease some of the potential for triggers. The poem form of the novel means that Ms. Cole has to select her focus with care, and in Dear Medusa, she opts for emotion over action. Alicia is suffering, and not just from what was done to her by a beloved teacher a year ago. Her pain is palpable, as is her anger, longing, desperation, confusion, and self-loathing. She has no support network and is so alone that it hurts. Ms. Cole conveys all this in clear, concise lines that don't portray the actions as much as the occurring emotions or thought processes.

There is so much happening to Alicia. She sees herself as a pariah among her peers, tainted by her willingness to have sex and shamefully bearing the burden of being labeled the school slut. Then, there is the apparent trauma she still suffers after the abuse she suffered at the hands of a teacher. Her parents recently divorced, and her relationship with her brother is nowhere near as close as it once was. But the absolute worst thing you have to watch Alicia struggle with is her self-loathing, as seen in her willingness to make herself available to men who do not care about her age but only see her as a piece of meat willing to do whatever they want.

No matter what age you are when you read Dear Medusa, Ms. Cole's verse helps you remember how confusing it was to be a teenager. On the one hand, you are proud of your new, post-pubescent, more womanly body and want others to find you as attractive as you think you are. Yet, you find yourself getting attention from the wrong people or the wrong type of attention. Dear Medusa took me back to places I didn't want to go, remembering situations I don't want to remember and scenarios I experienced that look very different through a perspective lens. Younger readers will see themselves in Alicia, working through their confusion at the mixed messaging society continues to give young people identifying as women.

Dear Medusa is powerful in so many ways. Every page has at least one passage I want to remember, even though I do not typically collect quotes from books I read. The verse is so beautiful in its simplicity. Alicia is full of pain, and Ms. Cole ensures we feel every nuance. Dear Medusa is a novel I am so glad I took a chance to read because it will stay with me for a long time.

I loved this novel in verse that explores the traumas of existing in a female body at sixteen, woven with the interpretations of the myth of Medusa, in a form that gets to the core of the incoherent rage, shame, and devastation that follows sexual abuse and being labeled and punished by peers and family as a slut.

I am really into books in verse and this one didn't disappoint! In a nutshell, Dear Medusa is about a teenage girl who struggles after being sexually assaulted by one of her school's teachers. She feels so alone in the world but through her poetry and texts, we get a look at her thoughts as she makes new friends and breaks free from her fear. Several trigger warnings of sexual assault, racism, and gender identity phobias. Highly recommend it to teenagers and young adults.

I went back and forth about reading this for a long time. But I finally decided since its about Greek mythology. I really need to start reading the synopsis lol Because this was nothing like what I was expecting it to be.

Ok so first things first. When I saw this title I knew I needed to read it. I’m a huge fan of all things mythology. So when I saw this one, the need for it was immediate. But unfortunately, in this way, it didn’t actually deliver… I mean it did in the way that Medusa was assaulted, but Idk, I wanted more than that. But it wasn’t mentioned at all in the story but a couple of times. Idk, since it had that much of an impact (since it’s the actual title) I just thought it would have more of a presence in the story.

The writing style was what hooked me. I’m very open about the fact that I dont’ really like novels in verse lol But this one wasn’t bad. This was really moving and I was hooked from the beginning. I did have to slow down the narration, but it was because speeding it up shook the cadence up and it sounded weird. But the way it was written reduced me to tears, made my so angry I could have slapped someone, and even more emotions. I felt some of everything in this book. And that’s how I know I liked it.

I also didn’t like the ending. It was left too open. (This is also why I don’t like novels in verse. We can assume what happens, but novels n verse don’t always tell you all the details. And I’m just not one who likes to make decisions on books I’m reading. I like to be given all the facts and just sit and enjoy. I don’t wnat to have to work for it if that makes sense.

The narrator was the author. And that’s another win for me. The way the author just knows where they want to breathe, or stop, etc. It just makes sense to narrate your own work because you know how you want it to sound. And this one was no different. It was beautiful and haunting, and sad.

This book was not at all what I was expecting, but it was so good. Even to someone like me who isn’t even a real fan. This book was so important and very needed. I really hope students can find something in this book to help them should they need it.

Are you there, Medusa? It’s me, Alicia.

16 year old Alicia is acting exactly how you would expect a girl who was sexually assaulted by multiple men, including a teacher, to act. She quits everything she loves and ostriches the world. She’s angry and lonely. She folds into herself and the expectation of others. She figures that if everyone already thinks terrible things about her, then she may as well be doing those things. If people want to use her, she’ll use them right back. People, especially her classmates, make assumptions about her and treat her terribly and while she tries to ignore it, we all know it’s hard.

Her ex best friend, Sarah was unsupportive for many reasons, the main being that she blames religion for her bigotry and hypocritical judgements. She stops answering Alicia’s texts and deems her too poisonous to associate with. I would say no loss there. No use keeping those kind of people around anyway. Sarah is a monster and if there is a hell, I hope she gets a first class ticket.

Alicia finds other friends who love and care about her and help her figure out the feelings she has, even if inadvertently and without knowing anything at all. Good friends are so important and in a story of heartache, I loved that she had these people.

“I kind of like actual wolves. They’re endangered. I wish these were.”

This gives some light to the truth about men who prey on young teens and get away with it. It’s despicable and disgusting, but it’s out there. As women, we’ve all seen it. However, this tells that story is such a beautiful and heartfelt way. I was gutted hearing Alicia’s story and knowing that it happens far too many times.

It was so smart for the author to tell this story in verse-I think it makes it that much more powerful. The title is also genius- Dear Medusa- are you kidding me?! Love it.

Overall, this was fast paced, powerful, pointed and brilliant. ❤️🐍

#MeToo

Dear Medusa was so damn good and wanted more. I couldnt put this down even if I wanted to. I wanted this book to keep going