Out of Control

by Norma Fox Mazer

Book Overview

A conflict between a group of popular high school boys and a eccentric, brainy girl escalates into a terrible incident that changes all of their lives forever. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380713470
• ISBN13: 9780380713479
• Release Date: April 1994
• Publisher: Harper Teen
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.2" x 6.8"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Things Taken Too Far

A Review by JodiThis book is about a girl who got attacked by three boys and took this little thing to far. She said that they molested her but they didn't touch her in any wrong or inappropriate ways, but on of the boys feels so bad about it that he tries to talk to her and get it all set right but she wants nothing to do with him. This girl Valerie wrote to the local news paper to tell her story and Rollo is scared about that. And at the end Rollo makes the right decision. The things I didn't liked about this book is that is at the beginning it sounds like they almost killed this girl or something horribly bad to her but didn't, another thing I didn't like about this book is that it went on for to long about how Rollo one of the main characters wants to start talking to her and set everything right and it just gets a bit out of hand after while. But there are some things I did like I liked how it reflected real high school students and high school life. I think the kind of person who would like this book would be someone who is in to high school drama and high school stories.

We All Now These Things Happen, But. . .

This book is fantastic and I recommend it to anyone who loves emotion, realistic books. This book is mainly about sexual assult and everthing that follows. There is one phrase in the book that is used over and over that has struck me and I believe I'll never forget. "We all know these things happen, but somehow we think they're happening somewhere else to someone else. We read about things in the papers, see them on T.V. Not here, we think. Not us. Not me. That's what I thought. Well, I was wrong. It was me." I've realized how true that is. It's not something you want to think about, but you need to think about what you'd do in that situation. This book is hardhitting, realistic, it makes you think, and it will never leave you. You'll never think the same way after you read this book. "Put fear behind you and do what's right." Not many of us can do that, but those of us who can are truely blessed. Thanks for reading my review.

Unfortunately realistic

The novel is beautifully written and realistically examines sexual harassment and how it can be so hard to get anyone to believe you and almost impossible to get a school to do anything about it.This shows just how cruel boys can treat girls and how hard it is for girls to be believed when they try and tell what happened.

excellent read

Out of Control by Norma Fox Mazer was unique and engrossing. Mazer wrote about a serious issue in our society, sexual assault. Her writing was life-like and interesting. I especially liked the way Mazer illustrated the emotions of Valerie, the main character. She was a usually intelligent, happy, optimistic girl whose emotions changed drastically after her attack. She was felt anger, hatred, fear and an untrusting feeling with her usually safe world. Mazer's words left a lasting impression on me. Mazer's words left a lasting impression on me. She made me feel some of the emotions that Valerie must have felt For example, she made me feel anger and sadness because attacks like Valerie's really do happen. She made me feel sympathetic and understanding towards every girl who has ever been attacked because she made me wonder how I would feel if I was attacked. I not only liked the way Mazer illustrated Valerie's emotions, I also enjoyed the way she showed other character's emotions like Rollo's. He was one of the boys who attacked Valerie; however, Mazer had a way of making me feel almost sorry for him by showing his thoughts and the way he pursued Valerie. He called her house and tried to see her when ever possible because he wanted her to see that he was really not a bad person. I did understand that Rollo was sorry for what he did; however, I found myself confused by him because he was always having thoughts like this: "With just a tiny movement of his hand he could touch her, with just a tiny movement he could touch Brig (Rollo's best friend) He's so much bigger than both of them that he could crush them, or kiss them. His face is rough and burning. Stupid thoughts, he's always having stupid thoughts."(Mazer 36) I got the impression that he is gay or at least sexually confused, even though this was never stated. I know that I should have a better understanding of this after reading the book, but I don't. Another reason that this character confused me is that he comes across as a nice, non-violent, caring boy. He cares about his family and takes care of his older, mentally retarded sister with love. I do not understand how or why he could have attacked Valerie. Whenever he thinks about what he did to her, he feels disgusted and ashamed. He also did not know why he attacked her. The thought that maybe he just followed his friends did cross my mind, but Mazer never stated that this was the reason that he attacked her. The book made me use my imagination. I liked this. Even though I liked the book, I did not like the way that Mazer had the principal deal with the situation. He wanted to keep the incident quiet, so that he would not get into trouble, and so that the school's reputation would not be be tainted in any way. His way of doing this was by not making the situation seem like a big deal and by only suspending the boys for ten days each. Also, he hinted to Valerie that she might

Shows the real life reaction to sexual harrasment these days

After reading this book, I had a different view of victims of sexual assult and harrasment. (I can't spell so you are going to have to excuse me) Valerie didn't deserve what she got, but she got it anyway for no reason. Its aweful to think that you can't trust anyone out there, but that's something alot of people live to be safe by. You never know what a few mean words could stir up, especially with a couple of big guys.