Dear Medusa by Olivia A. Cole

Published: March 14, 2023
Labyrinth Road
Genre: Teen & Young Adult Poetry
Pages: 382
KKECReads Rating: 5/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Olivia A. Cole is a writer from Louisville, Kentucky. Her essays have been published by Bitch Media, Real Simple, the Los Angeles Times, HuffPost, Teen Vogue, Gay Mag, and more. She teaches creative writing at Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts, where she guides her students through not only poetry and fiction but also considerations of the world and who they are in it. She is the author of several books for children and adults.

“Ever since last year, everything sounds like justice or its burning absence.”

Alicia is drowning in a secret so vile it’s changed who she is. She does things to help her escape, even if they aren't always things she wants. When she lets her guard down, she meets some people who shine a light in her heart and help clear away the shadows.

This was beautiful, haunting, and brilliantly done. I have never read a novel written like this, and I found the style so powerful. I loved the community Alicia found, despite not looking. And the friendships that blossomed from the depths.

The power of unity is so precious in this book, and the feeling of acceptance is strong. I loved the themes and found the characters brilliantly curated.

Most women will identify with some if not all, aspects of Alicia. Sadly, too many of us have had that door closed and have had to tread the darkness of shame and self-loathing.

I loved the friends Alicia found in this book. And I love the way they saw each other. Human. Flawed but worthy. The bonds were beautiful, and the strength was real.

I loved the use of imagery in this book, and the way running was associated with finding freedom but also avoidance. The use of distraction was clever and heartbreaking.

This was a powerful book, and the messages contained within these poetic lines are so important. Scream. Be loud. Be seen. It is okay to take up space and be visible.

Thank you, NetGalley for allowing me to read this book before publication date.

I don't often read novels written in verse, but I really enjoyed this one. It was tough content, but an important look at that content. Teenagers can be horrible to each other, and Alicia struggles every day. Her family life is falling apart. Her reputation at school has seen better days. And, she is exploring her sexuality, in a society that is often unfair to girls.

I love how Alicia is an example of many many woman who the world labels as “sluts or whores” without even wondering or thinking about her or the trauma she’s been through. The fact that the story is about her dealing with her pain in that way instead of Blake and how she dealt with her pain. Alicia and this book I believe will be relatable to a lot of girls who are labeled the problem or the bad one because everyone talks about the perfect one that hides her pain behind her smile but not about the one who is clearly going through it and not hiding behind it.

This book in verse was just so amazing I loved every part of it. It really showed a sadder side of sexual assualt, especially when the perpetrator is still around you and in a position of power. I loved all the discussions this book had about nearly everything in a teenagers life.

This was beautiful, heart wrenching, and relatable. An incredible exploration of sexual assault, identity, gender roles, and trauma. I've been in a reading slump recently and this wrenched me right out.

I think I would have enjoyed this more if it had a more resolved ending instead of having an open ending like it does.

Alicia was assaulted by a teacher at her school and is called a slut because of her reputation. Most of the story is about her dealing with sexual harassment on the daily by men who's attention she seeks.

It's written in prose so if that's not your thing I would stay away.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book.

Dear Medusa follows Alicia, a 16 year old who is sexually assaulted by a favorite teacher at her high school. The book fleshes out Alicia’s trauma response and subsequent clawing back toward normalcy. Books like this one are so incredibly important and sadly relevant. I really appreciated the internal monologues from Alicia when recounting her experiences with men who don’t at all care that she is a child. My major fault with this work was that it felt a bit disjointed and wasn’t entirely fleshed out. I wanted more of Alicia’s family and new friendships than we got. Overall, I still really enjoyed it.

This story was absolutely beautiful. I am always a sucker for novels in verse, and this did not disappoint. Alicia's journey toward healing felt realistic, as well as her experience of being a teenager today (I find that many YA novels I read don't feel like they have the voice of a teen -- this one does). This is a must read for teens, teachers, parents, etc -- anyone who needs a reminder of why people (especially young girls) do not report abuse even to people they trust. This story is also a reminder that people complicit in the actions of abusers are just as harmful as the people doing the harm.

Books like dear Medusa are books I wish I had read at a younger age. Because it surely did so much to heal my inner child!
Alicia rivers was Sexually abused by her teacher as a sophomore in high school. We learned how quickly everything changes in her life not only from being a survivor but what comes after and what life has thrown at her.
She is SLUT shamed from the narrative her peers have set on her. though no one knows the real story behind her new reputation. Yet the shaming is awful. Children can be so cruel. But as someone who can understand that sometimes having any control even if it means giving up something of ourselves before it’s TAKEN.
Due to all of this her “holier and mighty” friend drops her as s friend. Just to me felt like the most judgmental most spot on behavior I’ve seen. Because wow reading all this about her friend made me so mad.
Alicia definitely falls back on anger. She’s angry at the world and how everyone wants to treat her.
Due to this she is constantly being kicked out of class and ending up in school suspension or detention.
Her walls are up and she is extremely guarded and feels more alone than ever.
Because not only is she dealing with all of this but also family is going through a lot. With her parents drama her brother distance. Now discovering little notes implicating there is another person that may have been affected by this teacher. Someone else…oof again this is all a lot.
But Alicia perseveres and she finds herself finding new friends, new love interest. People who see her, who want to help her.

This book not only addresses SA, but also racism with some teachers and students in schools, sexuality and sexual preference.

Overall this book covered so many important topics, there were many verses where I just kept rereading because they just hit. Alicia’s story will stay in my heart along with the authors final note.

This is a powerful story of a teenager girl, Alicia, whose entire world is shifted out of focus after being sexually assaulted by a popular teacher. This story is so important and I think it will resonate deeply with my students. As a novel in verse, it works better the second half of the novel than the first; the poetry doesn’t flow as well, which makes sense considering it follows Alicia’s journey to healing and justice.

This novel in verse was extremely well written. It covers some very tough issues such as sexual assault and abuse. For this reason I may not be for everyone, but I think it portrays a very powerful message in an easy to digest way.

I would definitely recommend this one, but highly advise checking trigger warnings and reading with care.

I received a copy from NetGalley for review.

So I really enjoyed the way that this is set up. Dear Medusa follows Alicia, a high school girl, who is trying to navigate life after she was sexually assaulted by a faculty member of the high school she goes to, loses her (what I can only assume is evangelical) best friend Sarah, and has to process her parents going through a pretty bad divorce. Throughout the story, which is told entirely in verse through Alicia's poetry, we learn about her life prior to the event and the fallout afterward with her entire being changing from no longer doing track, ending up in ISAP, and generally being destructive,

Throughout, we get this constant disparagement of men outside commenting about Alicia's body and the shame Alicia feels while telling Sarah about her experiences due to the extreme religious views that Sarah has was really hard to read through. As a woman, having gone through similar experiences with men growing up just really hit home while reading this book. I enjoyed that Deja and Geneva really play a huge role in getting Alicia out of her downward spiral and coming to terms with some of the things she's dealing with mentally.

This novel in verse portrays a 16 year old teens perspective of living through the trauma of having been sexually abused by an adult in her school. A very intense, read that details the thought journey of Alicia as she is forced to face her fears, ridicule and the bumpy road to life preservation as her mind sears in the aftermath of such an emotionally raw experience.

Book in verse, with characters you fall for. Ultimately will not recommend this book for teenagers as it is just a lot. The progressive (and I'm progressive, but this book is progressive squared) nature of open sexuality in teenagers is not something I can in good conscience recommend to my students.

By the end of this is didn’t mind it. But for the first 50% I thought about stopping and not finishing it often.
I thought a lot of what it had to say was very well written and had a lot of very impactful things. But it definitely was not a plot driven book.
Because it was such a slow book that was really I think what held me back from liking it, or feeling particularly strongly about it.
I think the topics touched on in the book were really important and that the issues were handled and wrote about in a way that would impact the audience well. But I don’t feel like in my specific space and time this was a book that I connected too.
It’s a book I did go ahead and buy for a friend though

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

Dear Medusa is a novel in verse which follows sixteen year old Alicia as she copes with sexual abuse and rebuilding her identity after trauma.

This was a heavy book that tackled a lot of difficult and powerful topics that left me feeling a sort of bittersweet heartache in the end. As hard as it was to watch the more difficult parts of Alicia's journey, overall I felt like the way the book addressed sexual abuse, grooming, homophobia, etc. was really solid, and it was great to see Alicia grow in a very realistic way.

The one aspect I struggled with was the format. Usually I love a novel in verse, and I think there were parts where I was really vibing with this one, but all too often I found the verse format to feel a little more disjointed than I would expect, and occasionally also a little overwritten. This is all ultimately pretty forgivable for me, since I think this book had so many other good things going on, but I might have found it more disruptive if I didn't have other reasons for wanting to finish the book.

Overall, this is a solid, hard-hitting, and important read, and I really wish I'd had this kind of story alongside all the Ellen Hopkins I was reading as a teen.

How often do victims of sexual assault feel as though they have become the monsters? How often do the abusers get away with their actions while those they harm face the blame—for what they said (or didn’t say), for what they were wearing, and so on? This book explores this very issue.

After experiencing sexual assault from a teacher she trusted, Alicia changes. She loses parts of herself, her hobbies, her friends, and her family. She endured bullying from her classmates and is labeled a troublemaker by her teachers; however, she is simply trying to overcome the pain she feels and find moments in her life that she can control.

This novel in verse is heavy and full of pain as it follows Alicia’s journey towards finding her freedom and healing as she builds a supportive community around her and learns to love herself once again by speaking up against the wolves in her world.

Dear Medusa uses stunning verse to tell the story of a sixteen year old girl, Alicia, who struggles in the face of being sexually assaulted by one of her school's most beloved teachers. It's a captivating read, one that will tear you apart.

Everything about this book makes me glad that it will be a book out there in the world to read. Alicia is a bisexual teenager who acts out in the only ways she knows how. She's misunderstood and struggles to let people see all the parts of herself. Alicia sees herself as the Medusa of her story: she's been sexually assaulted and now has to fight against the world to simply exist, to be labeled as more than just a monster. She hides her real feelings behind a wall of anger and indifference; she has sex with random guys to have some agency in her life; she cusses out her teachers in the face of their blatant prejudice.

Alicia feels so alone in the world, and it's easy to feel that along with her as you read her thoughts. Even when she makes friends with Deja, she closes off vital parts of herself. And really, that's probably one of the most real parts of the story — the fact that she has these people there for her, but she can't break free from her cycle of fear and hurt just because they exist.

There was also commentary on intersectional feminism throughout. There was discussion of race, of trans and queer women, of slut-shaming. Alicia approached every instance with such a strong will to accept her own privilege and apply the situations to her own life.

This is a book to be felt. It's hopeless and painful most of the time, but it's also a story of sexuality and finding yourself in the face of trauma. If you come into it with an open mind and really listen to Alicia, I think you'll be glad you read Dear Medusa.

Trigger Warnings: slut shaming, rape, grooming, racism, d-slur, lesbophobia, biphobia, sexual assault, harmful religious rhetoric, drug references, parental divorce

Alicia was sexually assaulted by her teacher, and has a lot of trauma and anger to process. This verse novel is a really effective representation of her coping mechanisms and thought process and the way she avoids parts of that trauma. It's also about finding new friends after the loss of her uber-religious best friend who she never told what happened. It's about finding strength in others and learning how to fight back against the men who are wolves. This was hard to read at times, but so well-written. I loved how Cole used texts as a way to let other characters voices come through in a narrative that is otherwise very tightly focused on its main character. I think the hardest thing about this book for me is that it felt like something I would have read in high school and it sucks how little the world has changed since then.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House/Labyrinth Road for the advanced reader copy.

This week’s headline? Everyone needs a friend or two

Why this book? Need something short to get out of a reading slump

Which book format? ARC

Primary reading environment? Train rides

Any preconceived notions? No

Identify most with? Alicia

Three little words? “one clean slice”

Goes well with? Curly fries, cruel notes left in lockers, ex-friendships

Recommend this to? People who are feeling isolated and alone

Other cultural accompaniments: https://thenerddaily.com/olivia-a-cole-author-interview/

Grade: 4.25/5

I leave you with this: “because sometimes in this place where I am it feels good to refuse help, because saying yes … feels like saying yes to to everything else when my whole life has become a pipe bomb full of pieces that explode in a furious no”

📚📚📚

Dear Medusa has such powerful storytelling and an interesting verse format to go with it. Wanting to reclaim her self-worth and strength, Alicia struggles with being s*xually assaulted by a teacher and being ostracized by her peers.

Not to knock YA novels, but this one snuck up on me and surprised me with how good it is. The way Cole writes allows the reader so much insight into Alicia’s feelings and experiences in such a short novel. I think this might be an interesting novel to add to a high school curriculum. Definitely recommend this one.

Dear Medusa will be available on March 14, 2023.

*Check content and trigger warnings!