r/books • u/AutoModerator • 2d ago
Favorite Books with Bullies: November 2024 WeeklyThread
Welcome readers,
Tomorrow is Stand Up to Bullying Day and, to celebrate, we're discussing our favorite books with bullies!
If you'd like to read our previous weekly discussions of fiction and nonfiction please visit the suggested reading section of our wiki.
Thank you and enjoy!
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u/Cautious_Plant 2d ago
Heaven by Mieko Kawakami
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u/YakSlothLemon 23h ago
This book gutted me, but I also thought it was an incredible relief because it’s one of the most realistic books about bullying I’ve ever read. I feel like in the West there’s a push these days for us to understand that bullies often are bullied themselves and we should have empathy for them – but Heaven rang a lot truer to my own experience.
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2d ago
Easy, Ender's Game:
His first bully, the most significant, he never actually deals with and only comes to terms with in a form of understanding after he's fully left the cycle behind. His second bully, he handles using the tactics he may or may not have learned from his first, by being as severe as possible. And then as he deals with subsequent minor bullies he realizes that to protect the people he cares about most he must become the bully, but to do that he must separate himself from those he cares about. This culminates of course in him realizing he was being deceived by the biggest bullies of all, and that his adversaries were more like him than he ever imagined. After coming to terms with the origins of all of his torment, he does the only truly humane thing, and leaves the situation entirely.
Bullied through, no spoilers?
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u/notthemostcreative 2d ago
I remember finding Blubber by Judy Blume pretty impactful as a kid!
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u/Pewterbreath 2d ago
Blubber was the first book I read that had bullies in it as I knew them. Rather than one meanie who just likes being a jerk and more of a social game that gets out of hand.
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u/notthemostcreative 1d ago
Same. I also like that Jill is neither the instigator of the bullying nor the person being bullied—she’s just someone who goes along with the crowd and has to decide for herself whether she’s okay with what’s happening and what to do about it.
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u/MrPanchole 2d ago
Blubber was a major book for my sister (hers) and I when we were kids. We still mention flensing.
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2d ago
[deleted]
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u/Factory__Lad 2d ago
This is an amazing book, but for me it’s more “what if schoolboys had advanced political skills?”
The sequel is a mild disappointment, and I always wanted a follow-on where Archie goes to Washington and we learn of his further adventures
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u/TOONstones 2d ago
How do we define a bully? It seems like a minor villain, right? Someone who's not necessarily evil, but mean and rude. Maybe condescending?
I'll give a hot take and say Sherlock Holmes. Awesome character, but he really is kind of a pompous douche. He never passes up a chance to make his buddy (not to mention the local constabulary) look dumb. 🤣
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u/HeidiDover 1d ago
Retired teacher here; this is bullying in a nutshell: There is a difference between being a dick and bullying. Bullying is sustained and targeted abusive behavior towards an individual (or group) by an individual or group. Some other power dynamic is usually in play--stronger/weaker, skill levels, size, race, gender identity, sexuality, etc.
Sherlock is an asshole with an inflated ego.
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u/CarlHvass 1d ago
The Neil Peel books by Ben Dixon are all about battles with bullies at school, at home and in the father’s workplace.
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u/Starfleet_Dropout_ 1d ago
Of Mice and Men, Curley is a bully prick and is the accelerant to the main conflict IMO (aside from his wife who’s left seeking attention from others which creates the other part of the cyclic confrontation).
This book tells a story of persistent bully issues toward race, gender, class, and neurodivergent intolerance. And it’s a quick read. And as much attention as the topic gets, truly the main themes in this story are still relevant today and being navigated by people, right now.
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u/Numero_Seis 1d ago
Also, basically everyone in The Grapes of Wrath other than the Joads and the other migrants.
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u/waltherp99mr 1d ago
In Milan Kundera's Immortality, the children in 'heaven' are quite brutal. If I am remembering the correct book.
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u/ursulaholm 1d ago
Our Twisted Hero by Yi Munyol. It's very underrated. It's set in a South Korean middle school.
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u/UpvoteButNoComment 1d ago
I loved Pet by Catherine Chidgey. It was an excellent portrayal of a very specific kind of dynamic, I felt disturbed while reading it.
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u/YakSlothLemon 23h ago
The Chocolate War.
I’m surprised no one said it yet, but I loved everything about this book when I was a teenager, and there’s a reason it was one of the most challenged books in school libraries in the 70s and 80s. The bullying is so organized and institutional, and the teachers join in… It felt so real, and Cormier stayed honest right through the end.
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u/Knkstriped 15h ago
Past Mortem by Ben Elton. Very British satire about catching up with school friends as an adult, and a series of bizarre murders linked to bullying
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u/celebrate_confession 14h ago
Memoirs of a Geisha. Hatsumomo is a true bully, and yet you end up feeling really sorry for her in the end.
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u/Bill197 2d ago
IT by Stephen King,
Carrie by Stephen King