Moxie Review

Rating: 5/5

Source: W H Smith Bundle

MOXIE GIRLS FIGHT BACK!

Vivian Carter is fed up. Fed up with a school administration at her small-town Texas high school that thinks the football team can do no wrong. Fed up with sexist dress codes, hallway harassment, and gross comments from guys during class. But most of all, Viv Carter is fed up with always following the rules.

Viv's mom was a tough-as-nails, punk rock Riot Grrrl in the '90s, and now Viv takes a page from her mother's past and creates a feminist zine that she distributes anonymously to her classmates. She's just blowing off steam, but other girls respond. As Viv forges friendships with other young women across the divides of cliques and popularity rankings, she realizes that what she has started is nothing short of a girl revolution.

Moxie is a book about high school life that will make you wanna riot! 

I was so excited to find out that Zoella (who is one of my favourite humans) was doing a third book club. I was late to the party on the last two occasions simply due to lack of funds, but this time I was on it. Moxie is the only book in this bundle that Zoe chose herself, as this time she's doing Zoella and friends for her book club, which obviously meant I had to start with this book.

It was amazing. 

This book makes feminism cool and badass. It brings the whole subject to a younger audience and in a way that doesn't make you want to roll your eyes. These girls aren't getting annoyed over trivial things, which is how feminists are typically portrayed in pop culture these days. Real issues and discrimination drive the Moxie Girls into making themselves stand out, ensuring their voices are heard.

Viv comes across as a pretty ordinary girl, she hasn't had a particularly colourful high school career prior to the events of the book, her family knows her as 'dutiful' Vivian. Not what any teenager (or twenty-something for that matter) wants to hear. Everyone likes to think they're a little bit unpredictable or spontaneous, Viv is no different.

At the start of the book she seems to be living vicariously through her mother's 'Misspent Youth' memory box. Riot Grrl, punk sub-culture, funky hair colours and FEMINISM. Suddenly the dutiful daughter has the idea to start a quiet rebellion in her school by producing the Moxie Zines (and that's zeens as in maga-zines, I checked) that highlight the issues at her school and give girls the courage to find each other and fight back against the misogynistic approaches East Rockport High School is taking.

Viv and her friends all take part in the Moxie movements, though Viv doesn't let on that she's the one coming up with the ideas, and together they raise money and awareness that girls are not to be messed with. It doesn't all go to plan, but that just makes this book all the more powerful to read. Viv makes new friends, strengthening old ones and even meeting a boy -and Viv hasn't had anything to do with those yet.

Seth had my heart from the word go. He reminded me so much of my first real boyfriend, back when I only had eyes for boys with dyed black hair. So much love for a boy who would draw stars and hearts on his hand to stand by the girls at his school. I feel bad about being apprehensive about Viv getting a love interest, 'it's a book about feminism and sisterhood -why does she need a boyfriend????' She doesn't need one but Seth Acosta is nice boy so why not? Dating is as much a part of high school culture as forming a club is.

So, I would recommend this book to any YA fan, any young girl or woman in particular. I wish I'd been able to read this in High School, not because my school was bad (it was actually very inclusive) but because it would have made me realise that one person can make a difference, no matter how young, if they put their mind to it. The male of the species should also read this if you want to learn something important;


MOXIE GIRLS FIGHT BACK!