thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for sending me an e-copy of FOUL IS FAIR to review. this does not affect my rating.
this, first of all, is a book you have definitely got to read. bare in mind, it does go into detail about things which may be triggering for some.
TRIGGER WARNING: RAPE, MURDER, DEATH, BLOOD, SELF HARM, SUICIDE ATTEMPT, MENTION OF SUICIDE, UNDERAGE DRINKING, ABUSE
Golden boys beware: something wicked this way comes.
Elle and her friends Mads, Jenny, and Summer rule their glittering LA circle. Untouchable, they have the kind of power other girls only dream of. Every party is theirs and the world is at their feet. Until the night of Elle’s sweet sixteen, when they crash a St. Andrew’s Prep party. The night the golden boys choose Elle as their next target.
They picked the wrong girl.
Sworn to vengeance, Elle transfers to St. Andrew’s. She plots to destroy each boy, one by one. She’ll take their power, their lives, and their control of the prep school’s hierarchy. And she and her coven have the perfect way in: a boy named Mack, whose ambition could turn deadly.
Foul is Fair is a bloody, thrilling revenge fantasy for the girls who have had enough.
i don’t know where to begin.
i–
this book tore my heart out into so many little pieces and stomped on it, before slowly beginning to mend it. as Elle slowly got her revenge. as those golden boys began to pay.
but from the very beginning, i fell in love with Hannah Capin’s writing. her style took my breath away.
i love that the main girls were portrayed as the witches, as well as Elle playing the role of Lady Macbeth.
Macbeth is a play i studied when i was 13 and fell in love with instantaneously. i loved analysing and writing about it.
so the second i saw that FOUL IS FAIR was a Macbeth retelling, i knew i had to read it.
i just hadn’t anticipated that it would become a book that broke my heart and make me cry, so many times, needing to take in deep breaths because of how sad it was and how angry it was.
it revolves around the disgusting rape culture and how boys, especially rich white boys, especially white boys, get away with such heinous crimes. it touches on the seriousness of abuse and the fear that lingers, all throughout. the dangers of controlling behaviour.
it brings to light another way of dealing with rape, with abuse. it lets you realise that you choose how you want to be known. Elle didn’t want to be seen as just another victim, or another survivor. she wanted to be an avenger.
good girl. kill him.
and the thing is, so many girls, so many women, don’t survive. they may continue living, but it takes a lot out of them. to try, to continue, to exist.
and this book . . .
this goddamn book is everything that i wish would happen to every single rapist and abuser. i don’t care how that makes me sound. that is what they deserve. death. not rehabilitation or forgiveness or a prison sentence.
they deserve to suffer and to die.
“you’d almost never know my lips are still poison when i look the way a good girl is supposed to look instead of like that little whore with the jade-green eyes.”
i admire Elle’s strength and resilience, and i love her friendship with her coven. i wish i had her parents as my own, or i wish my parents reaction was the same as her parents.
the fast-paced action made the story all the more exciting, and terrifying, to read. i felt every emotion she felt. i felt the trepidation lingering around the ones who did the vile acts and those who did nothing and those who helped.
FOUL IS FAIR isn’t a story about forgiveness or letting the world crush you or allowing yourself to fall to your knees because you had your life torn apart at the seams.
it’s a story about strength and taking matters into your own hands. it’s about making people pay. it’s about making people realise actions have consequences, even if those consequences means blood being spilled.
there are some scenes toward the latter half of the novel, echoing Macbeth, which made me hold my breath in anticipation. i was hoping against hope that it wouldn’t end the same way, or it would be a different ending, or it wouldn’t be the same.
this book shook me to the core and it is one i highly recommend. the moment i finished reading, i ordered a copy of it. there’s no way i’m just holding onto an e-book of it.
i also loved the diversity in the book, how the characters weren’t all just white or cis or straight. it made it a hundred times more realistic and made me glad in a way that i could relate just a little bit more.
there are, however, some slight spacing issues and the letter f didn’t always show up in words which was weird — but i’m sure that will be sorted out in the final version.
other than that, this book, FOUL IS FAIR, is everything vengeful and angry and bloodthirsty. all red lipsticks, sharp knives, killer smiles, old-school, gothic aesthetics and revenge. it is strength, against every dark and cruel thing in the world.
it’s more than a 5 star rating.
Sumaiya, x
