Emily Choi /Edge columnist
A list posted online called “The Prettiest” came out in Ford middle-school. Eve became the prettiest girl overnight, something Sophie always wanted to be, instead, she was number two. As for Nessa, she knew she would never appear on a list like that.
Brigit Young‘s The Prettiest is a book about sexism and objectification, and repelling against it.
Eve Hoffman, a bookworm, poet, gets anti-Semitic and sexual comments thrown at her once the list came out. She constantly receives messages from anonymous users that weren’t ‘the prettiest’, and it never fails to make her feel bothered. Feeling uncomfortable, Eve started to wear her bothers jerseys to not feel the stares that everyone is giving her. Being the prettiest doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a good thing.
Sophie Kane, queen bee of the school, loves makeup, gets good grades, and has a following. She gets shocked by the fact that she was put at number two. She tries to hide the fact that she lives in a not so wealthy area and has to shop from thrift stores. As students start comparing her to Eve, Sophie finds out that her friends were turning up on her.
Nessa Flores-Brady, a theatre rat with a beautiful voice, whose name did not appear on the list. She’s Eve’s best friend and feels sickened towards beauty standards. Nessa realizes that people treat others differently depending on how someone looks.
Generally, the objective of this book, “The Prettiest,” by Brigit Young gives us a view on how powerful women are and enlightens us about sexual harassment and bullying. Before the list came out, Sophie had never even wanted to talk to Eve and Nessa, until the 3 of them teamed up to shut down the creator behind the life shattering list. The book shows different views of the situation, because stories like these will never just have one side to it. It felt relatable when Eve’s father brushed off the incident; he seemed to have thought that being put as number one should be seen as a good thing, and he thought she could just ignore it. “U always look sad. Smile” (160) or “you’d be a lot cuter if you plucked your eyebrows,” (59) are some of the comments that get sent to Eve depicting the unsettling things that are said to women.
In this book, it shows that women are supporting women in order to overcome hurdles that society throws towards them. Overall, this book should be checked out, because it gives individuals a viewpoint of things women experiences throughout their lives that tend to not be understood by everyone.