Book Description
The story has three main protagonists who narrate their own experiences: Quinn, Max, and Charlotte, all attending Lycroft Phelps, an elite school known to produce the crème de la crème of the working world. Anyone who’s anyone has either heard of the school or attended it.
Charlotte is your typical model schoolgirl; she’s feminine, pretty, and kind, with a popular boyfriend to match. On the surface, she’s the girl who has it all, but underneath, she’s falling apart. Her insecurities about her relationship with Seb are her Achilles heel, and those mysterious notes she’s getting aren’t helping. Not even her up-and-coming ballet recital proves distracting enough to ease her distress.
Max is a gifted STEM student whose scholarship at the school makes him feel estranged from the rest of the students, aside from his best friend Nills, and his crush Alex. His distaste for the popular jocks quickly changes to friendly admiration when he’s asked to be a part of the rowing team and gets swept up in the joys of being one of the top dogs on campus. But he soon finds out that it all comes with a cost that he’s not sure he’s willing to pay…
Finally, there’s Quin, a young Lycroft legacy child who had been a victim of rape the previous school year. Fuelled by anger and the promise of revenge, she returns to school with only one goal. To kill Colin Pearce. However, she quickly discovers that it’s not as easy as she thought, and maybe just confiding in others may be exactly what she needs.
Three students with three different lives are all linked together by a dark, disturbing secret that can’t be ignored any longer.
Book Review
WOW! This novel completely took me by surprise. Around a quarter through, I slowly started to lose interest, but the story premise was enough for me to persevere, and I’m pleased I did. As the plot thickened, my desire to see how this would all play out became borderline obsessive. The element of girl power was also the cherry on top that I never knew I needed.
Cameron Kelly Rosenblum bravely tackles the topics of rape culture, toxic masculinity, accountability, and many more in her novel The Sharp Edge of Silence.
The novel is a blunt and unapologetic display of the life-altering, detrimental effects rape has on its victims. I appreciate how the author used music as an escapist tool for the character to deal with her tidal wave of emotions. It was clear after a while that music was not just used as a coping mechanism but also to fuel her acts of revenge. Quinn’s anger and shame haunted her and tore away her self-image. She convinced herself that the only way to return to some semblance of herself was to destroy the man who hurt her. In the back of my mind, I knew that her approach was far from healthy, but that didn’t stop me from fiercely rooting for her the whole time. Colin Pierce was a character that boiled my blood; his disgustingly smug and narcissistic manner was unbearable to read and further fuelled my anticipation for Quinn to get justice. Her journey towards healing is an inspiring tearjerker that will draw you in every step of the way.
Charlotte lacks self-worth, though, unlike Quinn, this stems from her internal insecurities. She feels like a fraudster most of the time; that’s not deserving of the golden boy Seb, which leads her to change herself to be what she thinks is his ideal girl. Insecurity is a universal feeling, and the writer seamlessly tapped into that flawed mindset, successfully showing her raw vulnerability in a relatable way that had me gripping the pages in compassion.
What are you willing to do for success and popularity? Is it even worth it? And where do you draw the line? Max encounters this question more than once as he rises the ranks in Lycroft Phelps. Through Max, you can see how easy it is to get swayed into doing or being a part of something morally unjust. Being one of the boys and playing a sport he quickly starts to love makes his new life harder to let go of, and because of this, his moral compass takes a massive blow.
Reading how Max navigates being part of the popular crew is both frustrating and enjoyable. A little warning for my fellow emotionally invested readers out there… prepare yourselves! Many scenes make you want to scream in annoyance but there are also little gems of moments that highlight the beauty in teamwork and male bonding. Rosenblum’s portrayal of the characters reminds us that no one is one-dimensional, which makes their actions even more upsetting.
Final Thoughts
Emotional sad stories are my kryptonite, and Quinn’s was both particularly heart-breaking and empowering to read. I would happily recommend this book to those who want a powerfully relevant contemporary story about resilience when faced with one of the worst kinds of immoral acts.
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