Jessica Schiefauer

I really really liked this book and couldn't put it down and at first I thought I was gonna five star it, but there's one thing that's been bugging me the entire time ...

This book is about nazism and homophobia and all that shit or at least it COULD be about that but it never really touches upon those subjects. Not one of the main characters reflect on the toxic environment and attitudes that led to the murder, they are so focused on their own shit. I guess for good reason, and I'm not saying it should be preachy, but ...

Like the thing with the Thor's hammer necklaces? Are all the characters low-key nazis at the beginning? Doesn't it bother them that someone with the same connections as them did something like that? I felt it was missing.… (meer)

Three fourteen year old girls – Kim, Bella and Momo - are hanging out in a greenhouse. It’s their refuge, a place to get away from the chaos that is happening inside and outside them. Their bodies changing, becoming awkward, grotesque, sexualised. And the way the boys are claiming their right to them – the rights to stare, taunt, grope, minimize. But a strange new plant arrives in one of the packages of seeds Bella orders from around the world, and the almost vulgar sacks of nectar inside the huge flower it grows, has a strange ability. It temporarily transforms them to boys.

At first it’s just a game. An advanced dress-up party, and a safe armour to walk the world in, without those wet looks clinging to your every curve. Bella and Momo quickly tires, returning to the trio’s ritual games in the grennhouse. But for Kim, being a boy is like a drug. Especially being a boy accepted as a companion by Tony – dangerous, unpredictable, luring Tony.

This book won Sweden’s most prestigious award for books for young audiences in 2011 and it’s easy to see why. The premise might seem borderline silly, but Schiefauer really makes it work. The feeling of subordination felt by the girls in a world run by teenage boys is suffocating and vivid, and the transformation is described in physical detail. Even better is how well she captures that strange combination of thrill and unease one feels in the presence of an unpredictable leader – admiration, scorn, fright and secret superiority all mixed together. And with the final part’s mystery and the open ending, she takes it to yet another level and leaves me with goosebumps.

What stops me from giving it full marks is that the whole bad boy trope of Tony’s is taken unnecessarily far. I would much have preferred him being less of a stereotype, without switchblade, handgun and car theft. His position and unbpredictability are the important parts, not his actions per se. Also, I was a bit surprised how gender isn’t really playing that big a role here. What Kim is getting addicted to is being accepted in the presence of dark charisma – not being a boy per se. It seems a bit of a shame, I would have liked to see her explore her new role in the patriarchy more. But this is an engrossing and somewhat disturbing read, with an authentic, edgy feel. If it's not available in English yet, I suspect it will be. Recommended!… (meer)