Watch Us Rise by Ellen Hagan, Renée Watson
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: 21st February 2019
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Source: Publisher
Add it: Goodreads
Rating: 
Jasmine and Chelsea are best friends on a mission. Sick of the way that young women are treated even at their 'progressive' New York City high school, they decide to start a Women's Rights Club. One problem - no one shows up. That hardly stops them. They start posting everything from videos of Chelsea performing her poetry to Jasmine's response to being reduced to a racist and sexist stereotype in the school's theatre department. And soon, they've gone viral, creating a platform they never could've predicted.
With such positive support, the Women's Rights Club is also targeted by trolls. But Jasmine and Chelsea won't let their voices - or those of the other young women in their city - be silenced. They'll risk everything to be heard and effect change ... but at what cost?
Watch Us Rise had a lot of promise as a feminist YA story, but unfortunately it fell pretty flat for me. I was unable to connect with any of the characters, mostly because they were either lacking substance or completely irritating.
The main problem I had – and the problem that I think a lot of readers will have – is that the feminism in this book felt incredibly forced. It felt unnatural in that the characters were spouting out angry feminist rants at every opportunity. I’m quite disappointed by this, because I felt like the authors failed to portray teen feminists in a realistic way, and instead made them into what almost felt like caricatures or stereotypes.
Chelsea was someone that really grated on my nerves, as she had no personality other than being an angry feminist. She was also pretty crappy towards Jasmine, her best friend.
I’m very disappointed by Watch Us Rise, especially because I was hoping for something on par with The Nowhere Girls, I Stop Somewhere, or Moxie. This could have been better.