Margaux With An X by Ron Koertge

I read this book. Am I glad I read this book? For the purposes of this project, yes. However, this book did not make me feel much of anything other an outrage that it was even written, although it was a fast read. The main character, Margaux, is beautiful to a fault. It is alluded to early in the novel that she has some serious daddy issues, although we do not know until the end what those are. I would absolutely not recommend this book, in fact, I would not even keep a copy of it in my classroom. The issues of abuse are very real and valid, but what really got the blood boiling for me about this short novel were the relationships in it.

Margaux is on a path of self discovery and along the way she finds a surprising friend in a boy named Danny. Danny was abused by his father, and lives with his aunt who has MS. Although their friendship starts out truly genuine and kind, Margaux quickly discovers that Danny is not unscarred by his violent childhood, and he brings the violence into their friendship. Despite this, Margaux goes back to him. I do not feel that this is a message that should be sent to anyone, male or female. Abuse is a sad, terrible reality of the world we live in, but it is not an excuse for violence and is not a 'get out of jail free card' when violence does pop up.

I did however find myself routing for Margaux when she stood up to her father and called him out for their little 'incident' that happened when she was ten years old. She was strong and stood her ground, and had she not turned around and moved in with Danny and his aunt, I would even say that Margaux had made great personal leaps. As the story is, I feel that Margaux is simply moving from one form of past abuse to another form of potential abuse, a cycle that sadly many young women get trapped into. No. Just no.