#Girl in pieces how to#
#Girl in pieces full#

In our interview, Kathleen explained the difference in how the world treats the two of them like this: “Girls get locked up for their problems guys get record deals.” I nodded my head at first, sitting comfortably in my righteous indignation that Riley had treated Charlie so horribly. One of the many things that Girl in Pieces really nails, though, is that the kind of toxic masculinity that Riley typifies isn’t only toxic to Charlie. At least Bella had friends and family and a home. He admits it’s wrong, and repeatedly goes through the classic B4 motion of telling Charlie she should leave while also making it clear that he’s the only one who could possibly love her and that she’d be nothing without him.

And he uses her time and time again to feed his substance abuse, convincing her to bring him drugs and alcohol.

#Girl in pieces full#

He uses her for sex, despite knowing full well that she’s too young and too vulnerable. He uses her as an emotional salve for his bruised ego and wounded heart, soaking in her adoration in place of his own self-worth. For another thing, Riley uses Charlie constantly. As Kathleen pointed out when we interviewed her a few months ago, their relationship isn’t only unhealthy, it’s statutory rape. For one thing, he’s significantly older than Charlie. Some of those traumas come from Riley, the drug-addicted musician and all-around B4 she falls in love with. The book’s main character is Charlie, a teenage girl struggling with self-harm, depression, homelessness, and a whole host of traumas.

#Girl in pieces how to#

Girl in Pieces, by Kathleen Glasgow, contains a prime example of how to write about these relationships as the destructive things they are. Of course, not all of these B4’s go unchallenged or uncondemned by their authors. Sometimes it looks more like a man who desperately wants to protect the book’s heroine but won’t give her the information or tools she needs to protect herself. Sometimes it looks like a boy who makes her feel special but simultaneously convinces her that he’s the only one who could possibly understand or love her. But sometimes toxic masculinity isn’t quite as blatant as Edward Cullen and his rock-hard abs. Telling twelve-year-old girls that the man of their dreams ought to be a sparkly, sullen jerk who hates your best friend and is constantly battling the urge to literally kill you is pretty obviously problematic. Are we marketing stories to teenagers about boys who don’t seem to know the difference between love and control or about the girls who absolutely can’t get enough of them?ĭiscussions like this one often come back to Twilight, if only because it’s an easy target.

These B4’s are everywhere, and I won’t deny their appeal, but their presence in young adult literature troubles me. The literary world is full of characters whose toxic masculinity is passed off as romantic overprotectiveness or fascinating emotional depths. Let’s call them B4’s: Brooding Byronic Bad Boys. I say this not because I have some kind of sponsorship deal (I don’t) or because I spend too much time on Twitter (I do), but because this particular account is dedicated to calling out my absolute least favorite trope. If you’re not following on Twitter, you probably should be.