Some Boys

Some Boys (2014), a novel by Patty Blount, follows Grace who is sexually assaulted by a classmate, and her attempt to make her voice heard in a reductionist rape culture that holds women automatically untrustworthy or culpable in sexual crime allegations. After Zac, an idolized kid at school who excels in sports, rapes Grace, she becomes a local pariah, setting off a cascade of slut-shaming throughout the student body. The novel provides a frank reminder that it is important to discuss the subject of sexual violence in young adulthood and the need to define consent. It also lambasts patriarchal and capitalist school cultures, which value the success, revenue, and press opportunities provided by sports over individual attention and expression.

The novel is told from the alternating perspectives of Grace and Ian, Zac’s best friend, who spends time in detention with her after various bad behaviors. One month after the night when Zac raped Grace, school has taken a dive for her. Teachers openly enable bullying behavior towards Grace, stepping in only when Grace retaliates. Grace suffers from the coincidence of being stuck with Ian, already feeling that she cannot distance herself from the rape because no one will listen to her, except her mother, who shrinks from confrontation and wants Grace to get away from it all. Even the people who were her best friends have started antagonizing her. Making matters worse, her father refuses to believe that she was truly “raped.” Meanwhile, Ian struggles to win the affection of his parents. His father constantly holds strict demands over his head, pressuring him to not lose his spot on the lacrosse team.

As Grace and Ian serve detention together throughout their entire Spring Break, they are forced to clean the same group of lockers and interact. Initially, each is wary of the other. Each refuses to learn more about the other than what they have heard, impairing their ability to see each other for who they really are. Grace assumes that Ian is a hothead who received detention after lashing out for being suspended from the lacrosse game after getting a concussion. In reality, Ian has had a crush on Grace since long before the incident with his friend. After Grace was raped, he discovered her in the woods and took her to the emergency room. Still, Ian is less than sympathetic or believing of Grace’s trauma. He understands that she is hurting, but constantly makes excuses for Zac’s behavior. He spouts platitudes intrinsic to rape culture, arguing that she might have been asking for it and that it was an effect of the way she dresses. After a video of the rape edited to make it appear that Grace enjoyed the act is posted, the student body reacts negatively against Grace, believing that she made the video out of revenge after Zac rejected her.



Though few people will listen to Grace, luckily, Ian’s dad, who seems to see through the rape culture and understand the serious act of violence that took place, supports her. His son, on the other hand, seems to constantly flip-flop between views on the incident, never settling for Grace’s story because of his preoccupation with his status on the team and friendship with Zac. However, as he opens up more and begins to listen, he and Grace begin to develop affection for each other. Regardless, Grace is sure that she won’t be able to really like Ian until he is willing to relinquish his attachments to rape culture.

Ultimately, Ian comes forward with his eyewitness account of the rape incident, vouching for Grace. The community responds by apologizing profusely to Grace, asking for her forgiveness. Although she is taken aback by the obvious difference in power between a man’s and a woman’s narrative, Grace accepts their apologies as she sees them finally accept the truth. Zac is charged with rape and brought to court, while Ian severs his ties with him.

At the end of Some Boys, the community has undergone a holistic transformation in its perception of female voices and its newfound understanding of the plague of rape culture. Blount’s novel is an urgent and timely one, using Grace’s community as a proxy for the rape culture that runs rampant in contemporary America.