#WakeUp

"If I was as bad as Tina said I was--there's going to be something of myself, of my night, in the last place I want to see it . . . I need this part over with. So get it over with" (136).

In a conversation with a classmate, we discussed the ramifications of social media (she's reading another novel dealing with sexting) and young women. She asked me how I deal with sexting and social media with teens, and this is what I remind them:  the Internet leaves a record. Be careful.

In Summers' novel, main character Romy uses social media in a very interesting way:  to piece together the details of the night of her rape. She searches hashtags until she finds the Wake Lake details, which include #WakeUp. The night unfolds:  photos of a table of shots, the lake, selfies at the lake, and finally finds a photo of herself. Someone describes her as a "sloppy drunk mess by the bonfire," and more photos and updates throughout that fateful night, but no definitive answers.

This information does help Romy get angry; outwardly angry. And as a result, she confronts one of her bullies, Tina, which results in a fight. Throughout the novel, Romy is full of rage, but in my opinion, it's rage that she has internalized and turned inward on herself, rather than using the anger constructively by showing it to those who hurt her. It's almost as if Romy hates herself, but sees herself through the mirror that's held by her classmates--an inaccurate picture of both her and her alcoholic father (the town drunk).

Romy is traumatized, not herself, and the novel feels like she's in a haze throughout the story. It's difficult to read as this tragic story unfolds, because there seems so little change in Romy's character until the end of the novel, when she decides to befriend her frenemy, Tina, to bring Kellan to justice.