“Ali Greenleaf’s story is complex and beautifully told; full of fury, heartbreak, and hope.” –Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces and How to Make Friends With the DarkAli Greenleaf and Blythe Jensen couldn’t be more different.Ali is sweet, bitingly funny, and just a little naive. Blythe is beautiful, terrifying, and the most popular girl in school. They’ve never … the most popular girl in school. They’ve never even talked to each other, until a party when Ali decides she’ll finally make her move on Sean Nessel, her longtime crush and the soccer team’s superstar. But Sean pushes Ali farther than she wants to go. When she resists–he rapes her.
Blythe sees Ali when she runs from the party, everyone sees her. And Blythe knows something happened with Sean; she knows how he treats girls. Even so, she’s his best friend, his confidant. When he tells her it was a misunderstanding, she decides to help him make things right.
So Blythe befriends Ali, bringing her into a circle of ruthless popular girls, and sharing her own dark secrets. Despite the betrayal at the heart of their relationship, they see each other, in a way no one ever has before.
In her searing, empowering debut novel, Hayley Krischer tells the story of what happened that night, and how it shaped Ali and Blythe forever. Both girls are survivors in their own ways, and while their friendship might not be built to last, it’s one that empowers each of them to find justice on their own terms.
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Daring in its complexity. A powerful debut.
A powerful, nuanced, and stunning debut about rape culture and survival that will haunt you long after you close the book.
A timely and intimate discussion of rape culture, the power of shared stories, the courage it takes to find your voice.
Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf has many many triggers, so please be cautious as you read it. Ali is a kind, cute, maybe not-so-popular girl, and Krischer writes her character perfectly. The inexperience, the confusion, the absolute trauma that Ali experiences is so well encapsulated. I’ve read a lot of books dealing with this subject matter trying to understand why rape is even a thing. That power-dynamic that Krischer writes into Sean’s character feels like it is so realistic and not at all far from the truth. What I felt hurt the most about this book, though, was how Blythe treated Ali.
Overall, Krischer’s novel is so powerful in the way that it explores this difficult topic from brand new angles and perspectives. It is wonderfully written and perfectly executed with Ali in the center as a survivor. That word isn’t an accurate description, though. She did more than just survive—as I hope all those who experience trauma do—she overcame.
“‘I told you to stop.’” – Ali Greenleaf (Hayley Krischer), Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf
Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf
By Hayley Krischer
This was an amazing debut novel about Ali and Blythe and the relationship they form out of a very painful event that happened to Ali. Ali was raped by Blythe’s friend Sean. Blythe tries to befriend Ali to keep her quiet knowing what Sean did to Ali.
This was a powerful read about privilege, popularity, friendships and sexual assault. This story is intense and I recommend this read. I thought Krischer did a great job developing the characters and the story line. What an amazing YA debut novel.
Sometimes I wonder what it’s like to be her.
TW: rape, sexual assault, underage drinking, drug use, bullying, gaslighting.
Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf is a book that is far too relatable for far too many women/girls. It’s a story we hear often, but Hayley Krischer tells this story through not only the eyes and voice of the victim/survivor, but also through the eyes and voice of a rape apologist. This story was incredibly hard at points to read, and at times the events seem extreme, but it’s scarily accurate to some high school experiences. I stayed up all night reading this book, and it also took me all day to think of what I’d write here. It could be a bit spoiler-y, but I try to keep my opinions based on things established in the blurb, but fair warning here.
Ali and Blythe weren’t friends before the night Ali was raped, but they become friends after. Blythe’s reasons for becoming Ali’s friend are dishonest, but Ali isn’t a fool. She knows it’s not all genuine. Somehow they become actual friends regardless of motives or popularity standing, and realize that they each have more in common than either one of them expected. They find a strange comfort in one another.
Unfortunately sometimes friendship isn’t enough to make someone fully see outside of their own experience. I loved this story, because even though it is heartbreaking reading Ali’s POV, it’s also so empowering to watch her journey. Is this the case for every person who has been raped? No. BUT in this instance her journey is one you’re rooting for, and although the journey feels long and you just want to hold her and make it better, she takes this journey and time to heal on her own terms. She takes back her control.
Blythe is a character that you’re hesitant to care about. I mean, she becomes friends with Ali in order to smooth over the rape. Sure, we can say she doesn’t really know what happened, BUT doesn’t she? You hope that she changes and sees what she’s doing is wrong, but it’s also interesting to read her journey as well. She has layers. She’s human. She makes poor choices. She does things that are down right evil. She is imperfect. Aren’t we all, maybe different levels of imperfection, but imperfect none the less.
I appreciated reading this story. These dueling perspectives that were sometimes hard to handle, but also end something that starts so violently with so much hope and possibility.
And I HIGHLY recommend that if you read this book, that you read the acknowledgements as well. The author really explains the whys of this book and makes it feel that much more important if you didn’t see the importance before.
This is what being an adult is, right? This is how people become mature. They suffer and move on.