Has anyone read Only Ever Yours (feminist YA dystopian)?

Just finished this after downloading it when the OP posted this thread.
I loved it. I don't think it was brilliantly written but so much of it rang horribly true. Made me think of my younger, unconfident self and remember how my entire teenage years were spent desperate for some small crumbs of male attention. (I didn't have a great adolescence.) Most of all it just made me feel desperately sorry for young women growing up today
Going to see if I can find some reviews.

Have just completed 22 hours of flights + stopovers and read this all the way through. Like others I found it very disturbing. I thought the voices being piped put at night acted as a great metaphor for unnoticed / insidious messages in our own society - c.f. the beach body ads.

I think the one thing that rang a little hollow to me was how - apart from frieda and isabel - all the girls were so actively cruel to one another. I do see how that was inculcated by the society but the idea that women will almost always inevitably turn on one another feels a bit problematic. Am I right in thinking that relationships between women are depicted a bit more positively in A Handmaid's Tale? It's been years since I read it...

It was gripping and made me feel sick. Poor Frieda.

Right, I HATED IT.

I'm a lone voice I see!

I just thought it was really badly written and really stupid.
It didn't say anything interesting or novel. The main character was awful, none of the other characters were given any real motivations, they all seemed paper thin.
Worst book I've read since I read a v v poor thriller in 2012 which had ghost dwarves in it. Ghost. Dwarves.

Reading it now so skimming spoilers!

Forgot to say thanks op for recommending.

Read this on the basis of this thread. I found it far more jarring than 'a handmaids tale' especially because of the prevalence of social media in the book.

I found it interesting that all the female character's names started with lower case letters, while all the male characters had capitalised names or titles. It's as if the females aren't important enough to even be granted the basic right of a proper name, or seen as a unique entity to be thought of by a proper noun. They are created to be identical, to fit an idealised version of what is acceptable and desirable, while being discouraged from forming any actual personality so are stripped down to their most basic form and therefore sub-human.

SPOILERS

i think it highlighted quite well both the advantages and disadvantages for boys under patriarchy. the homophobia (against lesbians and gay men) was explicit. it certainly wasn't a picnic for the boys who weren't "fulfilling expectations" though ultimately their privilege meant that they survived at least. i would hope a teenage boy might understand the difference between not being able to choose the girl he wanted (the disadvantage), and being able to choose a girl at all without her having any say (the privilege and oppression) iyswim

So I read it today in one go. I'm actually haunted by it. The way freida talked about herself was (and is in many ways) the way I talk about myself. In some ways it was too close to the bone because I was tempted by thought processes I thought I had trained out of myself.

I'm going to get Dp to read it as I want to know his reaction.

Hmm I see where you're coming from magi - but I wonder if that will happen very much. The whole situation is presented as very bleak, I don't think many girls will identify with the characters or want to be in their situation. I'm sure the satire/allegory element will be missed by many though and it would take a good teacher to point it out. I read one review that made it clear the reader didn't get the overall message of the book at all. I'm not sure who the reviewer was but it highlighted how people could see it just as sci-fi novel and not get the underlying theme.

I am so curious as to how a teenage boy would respond to it - would they just find it incomprehensible?

PS Have just downloaded Changed Souls.

I finished Only Ever Yours last night.

I agree with TheCountess about its satire & potential to be a great read for teenage girls but one thing about worries me slightly.

I think there are some teenage girls who are already so conditioned into their femininity that they might take this as a validation of this. I think some girls might not see beyond the fact that Freida does not get 'her man', the #1, Darwin & that she does not fall in with the rules & becomes, shock, horror, fat.

I'd like to see it used as a set text in schools, however, with a good teacher to help point out the feminist context of it.

Oh, Countess, I didn't realise this was your thread! I came on to say if you like the book the OP is recommending, you might also like Changed Souls by Harriet Truscott. Amazing book.

I downloaded it when I saw it mentioned here and finished it the same day (last night about 00:30 to be precise!). Best book I've read in a very long time, totally compelling and horrifying. I'm not really a fan of The Handmaid's Tale - perhaps I was too young reading it but for some reason it didn't chime with me. But this one definitely did. It gave me a pain in the pit of my stomach because none of the social elements mentioned are in any way far fetched - they all exist now really and maybe aren't enforced in such an obvious way but are still there exerting their power. Reading it I felt very sorry for my teenage self - what freida believed about herself wasn't a million miles away from what I thought about myself. It was pitched and written very well. Haunting. Would love to talk about the details when everyone is done.

I finished it. Don't want to post any spoilers so won't comment much now except to say that it will linger I think.

I read it about 6 months ago, in one sitting. I agree OP it really knocked me for six. Not far fetched at all I don't think.
I promptly passed it on to my teenage Step daughter who loved it and it's been doing the rounds in her year group.

Started reading yesterday - about half way through - very disturbing but not actually that far fetched - grim. The bits describing how things were for them as younger girls especially made me want to cry...

I forgot I'd bought this! Will start it tonight.