We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire

 

My Thoughts:

I was drawn to this book because I love the cover and the way the title reads like a poem. I also thought that this would be a novel in verse so I was thrown off that the first part of it is not verse, but pain-ridden prose. Readers get to know Em from her angst, confusion, and anger. The story of what has happened to make her react this way unfolds like a novel in verse but in Em we have a very unreliable narrator who sometimes makes her sister's pain about her in a very teenage centric way. 

The poetry part is a story within a story of Marguerite de Bressiux, a legendary avenging knight for rape victims.  Perhaps this is closer to a multigenre novel as it is fluid and sharp like a sword. The social media ugliness, victim blaming and shaming are really hard to take, but we have to face this reality in order to do something about it, so the ugliness adds to the power of this (although it can also be triggering for some readers). 

This is definitely an older YA novel and this new generation's Speak (Laurie Halse Anderson). Even from someone used to reading YA, just a caveat, that this story is difficult because like I said, the novel unfolds like a poem where we have to absorb images and emotions without really understanding the "why" and "what." As a reader, I felt adrift and tried to be open to the narrator even when I cringed at what she did or thought.  If you are able to hold on, this is a powerful book. 

From the Publisher:

Em Morales's older sister was raped by another student after a frat party. A jury eventually found the rapist guilty on all counts--a remarkable verdict that Em felt more than a little responsible for, since she was her sister's strongest advocate on social media during the trial. Her passion and outspokenness helped dissuade the DA from settling for a plea deal. Em's family would have real justice.

But the victory is short-lived. In a matter of minutes, justice vanishes as the judge turns the Morales family's world upside down again by sentencing the rapist to no prison time. While her family is stunned, Em is literally sick with rage and guilt. To make matters worse, a news clip of her saying that the sentence makes her want to learn "how to use a sword" goes viral.

From this low point, Em must find a new reason to go on and help her family heal, and she finds it in the unlikely form of the story of a fifteenth-century French noblewoman, Marguerite de Bressieux, who is legendary as an avenging knight for rape victims.

We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire is a searing and nuanced portrait of a young woman torn between a persistent desire for revenge and a burning need for hope.

Author: Joy McCullough

Publisher: Dutton Book for Young Readers

Publication date: February 9, 2021