30 Aug / Foul Is Fair by Hannah Capin [in School Library Journal]
Emily Lawrence narrates Hannah Capin’s contemporized adaptation of Macbeth, featuring overprivileged L.A. teens with a #MeToo narrative overlay. Out at a party with her three best friends, Elizabeth Jade Khanjara is gang-raped by a group of prep school lacrosse stars. She refuses to be labeled a “victim,” or even “survivor” – instead, she’s the “avenger”; her last name is a feminization of khanjar, meaning “curved dagger,” summoning Shakespeare’s possessed leitmotif. She demands revenge, transferring to her rapists’ school, enrolling as Jade, and within 13 days, the squad will be dead.
Lawrence’s voice drips vicious manipulation as Jade wreaks overdue punishment over and over again. Lawrence growls through the perpetrators, initially pompous, convinced of their unchallenged power, until Jade reduces them to desperate whining and ineffective begging.
More train wreck than classic, once begun, turning off – even as you know how it all ends – is not an option.
Review: “Audio,” School Library Journal, July 1, 2020
Readers: Young Adult
Published: 2020