Review : What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : What Happens Next
Author : Colleen Clayton
Publisher : Little Brown Books
Publication Date : October 9th 2012
Goodreads - The Book Depository

How can you talk about something you can’t remember?
Before the ski trip, sixteen-year-old Cassidy “Sid” Murphy was a cheerleader (at the bottom of the pyramid, but still...), a straight-A student, and a member of a solid trio of best friends. When she ends up on a ski lift next to handsome local college boy, Dax Windsor, she’s thrilled; but Dax takes everything from Sid—including a lock of her perfect red curls—and she can’t remember any of it.

Back home and unable to relate to her old friends, Sid drops her college prep classes and takes up residence in the A/V room with only Corey “The Living Stoner” Livingston for company. But as she gets to know Corey (slacker, baker, total dreamboat), Sid finds someone who truly makes her happy. Now, if she can just shake the nightmares and those few extra pounds, everything will be perfect... or so she thinks.

Witty and poignant, Colleen Clayton’s stunning debut is a story about moving on after the unthinkable happens.

 
Personal Thoughts

I've wanted to read What Happens Next for quite some time now. My yearning for the book amplified once I read the lovely reviews of Giselle at Xpresso Reads, Jenni at Alluring Reads and Rachel at The Reader's Den. These ladies had nothing but praise for this emotional book, so I knew I should read the book right away.

On a ski trip with her school, Sid meets Dax Windsor, a handsome and charming college student who seems to really like her. This is the first time anyone has expressed genuine interest in Sid, so when he invites her to a party, she sneaks out alone to go meet him. The next morning she wakes up with no recollection of what had happened the day before, but deep down Sid knows that Dax took something precious from her. Back at home, things aren't easier. Unable to her the truth of what really happened to her during the ski trip, Sid alienates from her friends, drops her high-level classes, becomes bulimic and befriends Corey Livingston, resident stoner.

Sid felt like a realistic character to me. She was going through hell with all the upheavals in her life. I couldn't help but sympathize with her. Her way of dealing with her rape was emotional and very poignant. Sid was not the best decision maker. She made one poor choice after the other, her first being not telling her family and friends about what happened at the ski trip. She preferred to suppress her fears and her emotional dilemma, not allowing anyone, not even her mother, to glimpse into the dark truth of her past. I cannot say that I approved of her decisions, because I didn't. For me as a reader, watching her life unravel before my eyes was hard because I didn't want Sid to be unhappy. A big part of me wanted to shake some sense into her, wanting her to open up at least to her own mother and she had many opportunities to do so, but she let those opportunities slip out of her hands. Here's the thing though, I'm aware that it's not easy for rape victims to open up and instead they prefer to bottle everything inside because all they want to do is to forget that it ever happened to them. So, in the end, I understood Sid's stance. Over the course of the story, Sid slowly started to grow as a character, acknowledging the fact that she was raped and trying to put it all behind. I was really happy to see mature over the course of the story although I knew that the steps she were making were hard for her. The secondary characters in this book were such a huge support to Sid. She was a lucky girl to have such good friends and a loving mother. Corey, the love interest, stole my heart. When he was introduced as a drug dealer who had been to juvie before, my very first thought was "Great! Yet another bad boy!". So, you can imagine my surprise when he turned out to be one of the sweetest, caring and respectful YA boy I've ever come across. Unknowingly, he became a huge pillar to Sid along with her best friends.

After reading What Happens Next, I've come to the conclusion that no matter how many times I read a book dealing with a rape, the theme never fails to punch me in the gut. Maybe it's because I know about the kind of creeps that live in this world nowadays, but most probably because I'm a woman and I know I wouldn't wish something like rape even on my worst enemy. I can't pinpoint what it was exactly but there was something intensely realistic about What Happens Next. This isn't a book that only deals with the aftermath of the rape, but it also deals with eating disorders. Sid was this busty girl for her age and because of all the teasing of her breasts and bottom, she was figure conscious. Although she didn't seem to have a huge problem with it at first, she started hating her body after the rape. I thought Colleen Clayton dealt with the intense themes in a masterfully realistic way. Clayton's writing was simple, but behind those simple words was a powerful prose.

What Happens Next is not the book for every reader, but it's something that I think every young girl (and boy) needs to read. Yes, it's intense and extremely brutal, but it's also very genuine. All in all, I thought What Happens Next was a brilliant debut and I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

Rating
Cover : 4/5
Plot : 4/5
Characters : 4/5
Writing : 4/5