Book Review: You Against Me (Jenny Downham)

If someone hurts your sister and you're any kind of man, you seek revenge, right? If your brother's been accused of a terrible crime and you're the main witness, then you banish all doubt and defend him. Isn't that what families do? When Mikey's sister claims a boy assaulted her at a party, his world of work and girls begins to fall apart. When Ellie's brother is charged with the crime, but says he didn't do it, her world of revision, exams and fitting in at a new school begins to unravel. When Mikey and Ellie meet, two worlds collide. Brave and unflinching, this is a novel of extraordinary skillfulness and almost unbearable tension. It's a book about loyalty and the choices that come with it. But above all it's a book about love - for one's family and for another.

Jenny Downham's second offering is one very emotionally-exhausting read. While the book is nowhere near life changing, it can be aptly called a powerful book with an equally strong narrative, simply because it is capable of leaving its readers with very strong, very conflicting emotions. A fantastic read, this one.

I don't see You Against Me as a romance novel. At least not primarily so. This book revolves around the characters trapped in extraordinary challenging circumstances. For Mikey and Ellie, romance is part of these circumstances, and for these two love is both extraordinary and challenging. Their differences is highlighted quite early on in the book - not only are they on opposing sides of a criminal court case - Ellie is also privilege and Mikey is far from being so. The former is known as a shy, reserved girl, the latter more of a dangerous person with a bad boy streak. Their journey towards each other is remarkable for anyone in their shoes and I'm not saying so because I'm a romantic at heart. The road is not paved and many sacrifices must be made, but together, they learn to explore emotions foreign to them, realise the value of the finer things in life and experience the bittersweetness of first love. They both fight for and find courage - a value so very strong in the book.

Beyond the romance however, there is the looming backdrop of the court case - Ellie's brother Tom is on trial for sexually assaulting Karyn, Mikey's sister. This is where the book becomes inherently powerful - the effect of what happened on both families is truly heartbreaking. It is not only Tom and Karyn whose lives are turn around by it, but everyone's. Although we often symphatise with victims most forget their families and friends are heavily affected too. You Against Me reminded of the extent of such tragedy, because is chronicles every sacrifice, every suffering of Tom's and Karyn's families. It is blunt, honest and a true-to-life depiction of what happens when it happens - it does not sugarcoat the harm a tragedy like this can inflict to both party. There are of course two sides to every story, and You Against Me presents those sides in very concrete details. I was increasingly intrigued by what exactly happened on that night and can never make up my mind as to which version was the truth.

It didn't hit me at first that You Against Me is set in Britain, until tea (what else could it be?) is mentioned. I've always had a pleasure reading YA books set here, but of course the value of a book is beyond the beauty of its setting. This book in incredibly well written. The narrative is true to the characters and conveys genuine emotion to the readers. There is an extensive character development to support every complex detail of the plot.

If any, my complaints would only be that it became slightly predictable towards the end. Perhaps I was expecting the answers all along, but it seems rather typical of the twist to happen. I was also dissatisfied with the conclusion of the novel, the ending being abrupt, and vague.

However. This should stop you from reading You Against Me, because it is still utterly and absolutely fantastic.

Four Stars!


* You Against Me is out today, 2nd December 2010. Don't forget to grab your copies if you have not already done so, because believe me, this is worth your time! Thank you to David Fickling Books and Random House Children's Books for my review copy.