“to have men
in your life
who know
that the battle
we face against
men who are
wolves can only
be won
with the help
of men
who are not.”
― Olivia A. Cole, Dear Medusa

Dear Medusa by Olivia A. Cole is a novel in verse that tackles devastating topics from the point of view of a sixteen-year-old girl. Sixteen-year-old Alicia Rivers has whispers that follow her around school. Insults galore linked to a reputation that all mean she is a girl who has had sex. The vicious rumors and social outcast status she has received all started when she was sexually assaulted by a popular teacher. No one knows that though. All they see is a teenage girl who is promiscuous. Relating to the story of Medusa, readers will see Alicia as being made into a monster, instead of as the victim of sexual assault. The people around Alicia are upholding toxic patriarchal values that objectify her and lead to issues of victim shaming and double standards. This is more than a story of sexual violence, even though the violence Alicia and others go through affects every aspect of their lives. Racism, homophobia, shame, virginity stigma, and misogyny abound.

Alicia’s trauma runs through her life, leaving her isolated and feeling invisible. Through this novel in verse, Alicia is abandoned by her best friend, leaves her hobbies, and has outbursts in class that land her in in-school suspension. Amongst the bad, Alicia also finds mysterious letters left in her locker, that lead her to believe that there may be other student victims. Alicia’s struggles have some bright spots as she starts making friends and even has a growing attraction to a new girl at her school. Life is changing around her, leading Alicia to start branching out. The characters in Dear Medusa are representative of a wide variety of people. This is queer young adult fiction with bisexual, lesbian, and asexual characters, plus characters of different races and ethnicities.

Dear Medusa destroyed me. I have noticed a trend of novels in verse that deal with tough topics. Writing a novel in verse about hard topics allows readers to take a step back and see the story from a more relatable perspective. This relates to Dear Medusa specifically in the sense that readers follow Alicia as she works through her feelings about the past and the present. Dear Medusa covers a wide variety of topics and as a result can become quite heavy, but the poetic style allows the author to shift seamlessly and quickly between topics while also presenting them in an accessible and easier way. This book is very well written and effectively brings these topics to attention.

“I’m starting to realize
that a woman doesn’t get that mad
so mad that her hair turns to snakes
so mad that her rage turns blood to boulder
all on her own.”
― Olivia A. Cole, Dear Medusa