Title: Then You Were Gone Author: Lauren Strasnick
Published: January 8, 2013
Genre(s): Realistic/Contemporary
Page Count: 224
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Two years ago, Adrienne’s best friend walked out of her life. One week ago, she left Adrienne a desperate, muffled voicemail. Adrienne never called back.
Now Dakota is missing. She left behind a string of broken hearts, a flurry of rumors, and a suicide note.
Adrienne can’t stop obsessing over what might have happened if she’d answered Dakota’s call. And she’s increasingly convinced that Dakota must still be alive.
Maybe finding and saving Dakota is the only way Adrienne can save herself.
Or maybe it’s too late for them both.
The thing when writing a book that deals with serious issues is that, well, you have to deal with the issue well. It’s important to be respectful of the issue, to portray it accurately, to not rely on stereotypes or weak devices. Then You Were Gone is not a respectful book; Lauren Strasnick does not deal well with the issues she chose to write about. Beneath a tired, overdone concept, this book trivializes suicide and makes rape look like a joke. This book is insensitive and thoughtless. It gives awful people a happy end and makes the rape victim look like a whore who deserved what she got.
I can’t even believe someone actually sat down and wrote this book.
We open Then You Were Gone with Adrienne. She has just found out that her former friend, Dakota, has gone missing. Her life then implodes, for reasons that I couldn’t understand. When Adrienne and Dakota were friends, things weren’t good; it was an extremely unhealthy relationship. Dakota led and Adrienne followed, blindly, without question. She was not her own person in any way, and it’s very clear that ending the relationship was in Adrienne’s best interest. In the present, Adrienne has healthy friendships, a good boyfriend, and is doing well in school. So why does she self-destruct when she finds out that Dakota is missing? The reader doesn’t know, because Strasnick doesn’t make this clear.
The majority of the book features Adrienne acting like a spoiled brat, which she definitely is. She resides in a well-to-do section of L.A. and is basically a privileged white kid who’s every wish has been granted by a doting mother. Throughout Then You Were Gone, Adrienne treats her good friends like crap, cheats on her genuinely nice boyfriend just because he doesn’t understand her self-centered angst with a “bad boy” who does understand. It didn’t even feel like Adrienne’s freak-out was because of Dakota disappearing; it was entirely self-indulgent, like a little kid’s temper tantrum when she doesn’t get her way.
Finally, we learn what really happened to Dakota (hint: it wasn’t suicide), and that’s basically where an already awful book became downright abysmal.
Turns out, Dakota faked her suicide and ran away because she was pregnant. With her English teacher’s kid. So Dakota is a rape victim and she needs help and compassion. Does she get that? No, of course not. Strasnick portrays Dakota as a “crazy bitch” who’s overdramatic and selfish. Adrienne and her Bad Boy make fun of Dakota for being a “slut who bangs her teachers.” Are you kidding?
In what world is the victim of rape a slut? IN. WHAT. WORLD. Dakota was a child who had sex with an adult. And maybe she thought she wanted it at some point, but she was a child, and she was the victim. Dakota was a victim. What she needs from Adrienne is compassion; what she needs is professional help. She doesn’t need judgment or her peers calling her a crazy, slutty bitch. Then You Were Gone portrays the rape victim as the VILLAIN. There is no world where that is acceptable or conscionable.
At no point does Dakota’s English teacher, the freaking rapist have to answer for his actions. He walks away completely free. Once she finds out about Dakota, Adrienne goes to this teacher and blackmails him, saying she’ll keep quiet if he gives her an A in his class. Again, are you kidding me? Strasnick’s so-called “heroine” places her GPA over the safety and well-being of others. Because guess what, that rapist will probably go after another student. And by using Dakota’s rape to work to her advantage rather than turning the rapist in like any sane person would, Adrienne gave him to opportunity to keep on raping students.
This sickens me.
What Lauren Strasnick did with this book is disgusting. Her protagonist is a self-centered, slut-shaming idiot who gets a happy ending with her dream boy. The rape victim is a crazy whore who got what she deserved. What the hell was this author thinking? Then You Were Gone is a terrible, nauseating, horrifying book. If you need evidence that rape culture is a problem in our society, here’s all the proof you need.
There are no words for how angry I am.
