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Fair Game
A sordid incident on a humid spring afternoon in the affluent suburb of Shorehaven leads to accusations that a group of popular high-school athletes sexually assaulted a retarded teenage girl. But was it gang rape, or was the girl a willing participant?
293 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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About the author
Erika Tamar
22 books4 followersErika Tamar is the award-winning author of nineteen books for children, including The Junkyard Dog, winner of the California Young Reader Medal and the Virginia Young Readers Award, and The Midnight Train Home, winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award for best juvenile fiction.
She was born in Vienna, Austria. In 1939, after witnessing Kristallnacht and suffering under Jewish exclusionary laws, her parents sent her and her brother Henry, ages 4 and 9, away to strangers to save their lives.
They traveled to the U.S. in June 1939 as two of fifty children personally rescued by Jewish Philadelphians Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus, a rescue effort featured in the HBO documentary film and book, 50 Children, by Steven Pressman, and supported by documents housed in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
By late August, they were adopted by a foster family and traveled to Houston, Texas, until her parents, Dr. Julius and Pauline Tamar, arrived in New York in November 1939, at which point they were reunited.
Erika tells this story herself in an oral history on video housed at the USHMM.
A lifelong New Yorker, Erika grew up in Washington Heights in Manhattan as the daughter of the neighborhood physician and graduated from the Bronx High School of Science.
She was born in Vienna, Austria. In 1939, after witnessing Kristallnacht and suffering under Jewish exclusionary laws, her parents sent her and her brother Henry, ages 4 and 9, away to strangers to save their lives.
They traveled to the U.S. in June 1939 as two of fifty children personally rescued by Jewish Philadelphians Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus, a rescue effort featured in the HBO documentary film and book, 50 Children, by Steven Pressman, and supported by documents housed in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
By late August, they were adopted by a foster family and traveled to Houston, Texas, until her parents, Dr. Julius and Pauline Tamar, arrived in New York in November 1939, at which point they were reunited.
Erika tells this story herself in an oral history on video housed at the USHMM.
A lifelong New Yorker, Erika grew up in Washington Heights in Manhattan as the daughter of the neighborhood physician and graduated from the Bronx High School of Science.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 22, 2022
2.5 stars (when, oh when will Goodreads allow us to do half stars?!)
TW for discussion of rape. Mild spoilers throughout.
I'm not sure where to begin with this one. I read it as a teen in the mid-90s, and only just hunted it down again after hours spent searching book descriptions as I'd forgotten the title/author over the last 25 years or so. So I was excited to find this and read it again. Is that a weird thing to say, given the subject matter?
My main issue with this book is that I have no idea what message we're supposed to take away from it. The author presents glaring examples of rape culture, but never comments on or condemns them. In fact, the message almost appears to be "if you froze rather than fighting or flighting, then your gang rape wasn't really rape, sorry babes 🤷♀️."
Laura Jean, the girlfriend of the gang rape ringleader and one of our three alternating POV characters, plays "Stand by Your Man" on a loop and leads the charge victim-blaming the intellectually disabled rape victim, Cara, who in true 1993 fashion is exclusively referred to as "retarded" throughout the book. Ah, the 90s. It was not a sensitive time. L.J. spends nearly the whole book calling Cara a whore and a slut before finally talking to her a couple chapters from the end and realizing that she's "like a five-year-old," at which point she finally understands that the boyfriend she's been standing by is a piece of shit. Minor spoilers - L.J. records her conversation with Cara, where it's very obvious that Cara didn't want to be gang raped, and that Scott (L.J.'s bf) was the ringleader, and yet since Cara says she didn't say no or try to get away (because she didn't know what to do), L.J. acts like this tape somehow exonerates Scott and sends it to his lawyer. She even tells Scott that she did this one last thing for him, but now they're through. Which, uh, Laura Jean? That tape makes him look even worse than he did before, wtf? Were rape laws so abysmal in 1993 that very obvious gang rape wasn't considered rape if you didn't say no?
Our other two protagonists are Cara herself, and Joe Lopez, a badly-written Latino stereotype who left the rape party as soon as Scott goaded Cara into doing a strip tease. I suppose we're supposed to think he's a good guy, but he also blames girls for their own harassment because they're dressed like whores, so . . . being in his head was a terrible reading experience. And again, none of the rape culture stuff is ever commented on or pushed back against. There are two different conversations about boys having "sex" with a girl who was drunk to the point of incapacitation, and it's treated as normal and not concerning to anyone. Of course, if you're reading this today, already knowing that's not sex, it's rape, then it's fine I suppose. But if somebody who didn't know better read this, they could absolutely come away thinking raping an incapacitated girl is totally fine and not actually rape, since it gets no comment or pushback here.
I think I've finally nailed down my biggest problem with this book, aside from the very 1993 casual racism and homophobia. We're left with the feeling that the only reason Laura Jean thinks this gang rape was rape (although at one point she even walks that back and says "maybe not rape, then, maybe more like child abuse" like she thinks child rape doesn't happen?) is because Cara is intellectually disabled. If her IQ were above 70, I guess she'd still just be a slut who was asking to be held down and raped with a bottle and a mop handle by ten guys while she struggled and cried.
I can't figure out if that was the author's intent, or if it was just the wrong-headedness of the character, but since none of the wrong-headedness is addressed as such or pushed back against in any way, it leaves a bad aftertaste. This is a subject you can't afford to be ambiguous about when it comes to your messaging. And if the reader can't figure out what your message was, then you failed at telling your story.
TW for discussion of rape. Mild spoilers throughout.
I'm not sure where to begin with this one. I read it as a teen in the mid-90s, and only just hunted it down again after hours spent searching book descriptions as I'd forgotten the title/author over the last 25 years or so. So I was excited to find this and read it again. Is that a weird thing to say, given the subject matter?
My main issue with this book is that I have no idea what message we're supposed to take away from it. The author presents glaring examples of rape culture, but never comments on or condemns them. In fact, the message almost appears to be "if you froze rather than fighting or flighting, then your gang rape wasn't really rape, sorry babes 🤷♀️."
Laura Jean, the girlfriend of the gang rape ringleader and one of our three alternating POV characters, plays "Stand by Your Man" on a loop and leads the charge victim-blaming the intellectually disabled rape victim, Cara, who in true 1993 fashion is exclusively referred to as "retarded" throughout the book. Ah, the 90s. It was not a sensitive time. L.J. spends nearly the whole book calling Cara a whore and a slut before finally talking to her a couple chapters from the end and realizing that she's "like a five-year-old," at which point she finally understands that the boyfriend she's been standing by is a piece of shit. Minor spoilers - L.J. records her conversation with Cara, where it's very obvious that Cara didn't want to be gang raped, and that Scott (L.J.'s bf) was the ringleader, and yet since Cara says she didn't say no or try to get away (because she didn't know what to do), L.J. acts like this tape somehow exonerates Scott and sends it to his lawyer. She even tells Scott that she did this one last thing for him, but now they're through. Which, uh, Laura Jean? That tape makes him look even worse than he did before, wtf? Were rape laws so abysmal in 1993 that very obvious gang rape wasn't considered rape if you didn't say no?
Our other two protagonists are Cara herself, and Joe Lopez, a badly-written Latino stereotype who left the rape party as soon as Scott goaded Cara into doing a strip tease. I suppose we're supposed to think he's a good guy, but he also blames girls for their own harassment because they're dressed like whores, so . . . being in his head was a terrible reading experience. And again, none of the rape culture stuff is ever commented on or pushed back against. There are two different conversations about boys having "sex" with a girl who was drunk to the point of incapacitation, and it's treated as normal and not concerning to anyone. Of course, if you're reading this today, already knowing that's not sex, it's rape, then it's fine I suppose. But if somebody who didn't know better read this, they could absolutely come away thinking raping an incapacitated girl is totally fine and not actually rape, since it gets no comment or pushback here.
I think I've finally nailed down my biggest problem with this book, aside from the very 1993 casual racism and homophobia. We're left with the feeling that the only reason Laura Jean thinks this gang rape was rape (although at one point she even walks that back and says "maybe not rape, then, maybe more like child abuse" like she thinks child rape doesn't happen?) is because Cara is intellectually disabled. If her IQ were above 70, I guess she'd still just be a slut who was asking to be held down and raped with a bottle and a mop handle by ten guys while she struggled and cried.
I can't figure out if that was the author's intent, or if it was just the wrong-headedness of the character, but since none of the wrong-headedness is addressed as such or pushed back against in any way, it leaves a bad aftertaste. This is a subject you can't afford to be ambiguous about when it comes to your messaging. And if the reader can't figure out what your message was, then you failed at telling your story.
March 23, 2018
This book is a bit dated now, having been published in 1993, but the concept is one that is still prevalent in society today. A group of popular athletes are accused of sexually assaulting a girl with special needs. The town is thrown into minor chaos as the popular boys are pitted against each other, the community, and the family of the girl assaulted. It discusses privilege, consent, and the shades of gray that appear to exist in between.
February 4, 2010
This was a good book , but it def wasn't on a plesant subject to read about . It's based on a ture story though and is a lifetime movie so if you're planning on watching the movie you should read it . I can't say I enjoyed it , it was a good book though and could/ did happen .
June 29, 2013
A very deep and intense book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews