And just how much effort a woman puts in to making the act of being a woman seem effortless. Through Eliza's eyes, readers experience views on menstruation, blonde jokes, and how the definition of feminism isn't the same for everyone. Not Here to Be Liked is a truly excellent book, helmed by two captivating main characters and an author who is not shy about tackling weighty subjects. 'Not Here to Be Liked' is a truly excellent book, helmed by two captivating main characters and an author who is not shy about tackling weighty subjects. But following through with her plans will kill whatever fondness is budding between them, just as surely as hooking up with Len will completely undermine her activism. The more she gets to know him, the more she grows to like him. But how do you 'solve' sexism from within an already deeply misogynistic framework? How do you combat all the hate this world seems to carry, in high school and beyond?Įven worse, Eliza's so blinded by her snap labeling of Len as 'the face of the patriarchy' that she doesn't actually give him a chance. Eliza finds herself held up as the Voice of Feminism at Willoughby, and she rises to the challenge.

The piece is taken down immediately, but there is no unringing that bell. She's interrupted before finishing, but that doesn't stop someone from wrapping it up on her behalf and printing the manifesto as Bugle online news the next day.

She covers everything from Len's considerable lack of experience to the institutionalized sexism at Willoughby in general. In a fit of cathartic pique, Eliza pours her heart out into a Google Doc on a newsroom computer. NPR Books Summer Poll 2021: A Decade Of Great Sci-Fi And Fantasy Feeling Lost? These 3 Fantasy Novels Will Help You Be The Hero Of Your Own Story So when some guy with little expertise and a boatload of charisma steps up at the eleventh hour and walks away with the position she's worked toward for years, it is not a pretty sight. She relies on her top-notch brain and expertise to see her through. She doesn't dress to impress or alter her attitude to fit the social situation. Now, Eliza's not likable, and she knows it. She's running unopposed for Editor in Chief until the last minute, when Eliza is notified of another candidate: Leonard 'Len' DiMartile, an impossibly charming, half-white half-Japanese former basketball player. If you're Eliza Quan, you've just walked in on this exact scenario.Įliza, the Chinese Vietnamese American heroine of Michelle Quach's marvelous debut novel Not Here to Be Liked, is managing editor of the Willoughby High School Bugle and has worked tirelessly on the newspaper's staff for years. Have you ever had the feeling that, despite all the good, hard work you've done, there's always someone else getting more accolades by accomplishing less? If you identify as a woman, it's far more likely that you've experienced such a thing in your lifetime.

Not here to be liked michelle quach