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The Burning by Laura Bates centres itself on Anna Clark, who has had to uproot herself to Scotland after a scandal that broke out in her old school. Attempting to find a new life in St. Monans, Anna’s school history project on a local figure shapes her actions and beliefs when this scandal comes to haunt her.
This book deals with very modern themes of slut-shaming, feminism, the double standards in society and the lack of effective strategies in place to deal with cyber bullying and problems facing teenagers nowadays. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone between the ages of 10 to 16 as I think it deals with a lot of topics (though briefly) that teenagers may encounter through friends or their own lives.
I’m not too sure why I read this book, as its Young Adult which isn’t a genre I read very often, but it is a nice, easy read with a sort of intriguing pull throughout that did keep me going. This book is very YA so if that’s not really your thing this might not be ideal!
My main issue with this book is I feel it deals with a lot of topics in the space of 300 pages, resulting in none of the topics ever really being fully discussed. From slut-shaming to abortion to sleeping with others or deciding not to, from LGBTQIA+ characters and teenage romance, none of the topics, other than perhaps the overall topic of slut-shaming when it comes to cyber bullying, are all that in-depth. While this is definitely a step in the right direction, it may be overwhelming for a younger audience who now only have surface level thoughts about these topics.
To add to this, especially when it came to the LGBTQIA+ characters, I don’t even think the topic was dealt with particularly well, brushing off the experiences as “I’ve never seen it like that before” and then proceeding to carry on with the main storyline. This felt somewhat like performative activism on the part of the author - as this character’s sexuality was not even discussed or dealt with in a way that informs the reader of the importance of those conversations.
Additionally, the slightly odd supernatural element of the book from the 50% mark onwards was quite jarring to say the least, and while I loved the writing surrounding these supernatural experiences, the main character just seemed to let them go past her and then she carried on her life, which felt a little odd and unexplained?
Lastly, something I find very common in YA, is presenting teenagers in ways that doesn’t feel very authentic. The final speech at the end of the novel and the heroic stance of solidarity with Anna was so out of nowhere and definitely something that would never happen in real life. Between this dialogue and the late-introduced supernatural element, it was really hard to actually get into the grit of the book.
Overall, if you love YA and modern feminist fiction then this is 100% up your alley. If you liked Looking for Alaska or Paper Towns by John Green or even perhaps Colleen Heever books this may be one to add to your TBR. For me, it didn’t hit the spot I wanted it to because of its overambitious nature and lack of authentic teenager representation.
Rating: ⭐⭐/5