Book Review: Please Send Help by Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin

A YA Novel That Centers Friendship Between Women

By Ghia Vitale

Please Send Help is a sassy YA novel that explores relationships and sexuality in detail. It’s the sequel to I Hate Everyone But You, a New York Times bestseller written by Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin.

On July 16th in 2019, Wednesday Books published Please Send Help. Since then, it’s been taking the YA novel scene by storm. Now, the world can finally find out what actually happens to Ava and Gen, the protagonists of the series. I Hate Everyone But You got published in 2017, so it’s the big reveal people have been waiting for.

The book isn’t divided into chapters, but it’s still easy to read. The narrative focuses on emails and text messages written by Ava and Gen. In these digital exchanges, these women in their early twenties describe their daily happenings as they both begin new chapters of their lives. Ava moves to New York to do an internship for a popular talk show. Meanwhile, Gen moves to Florida and works as a journalist, but mostly hates living in Florida. Despite their different situations and the distance between them, the two remain close.

It’s obvious that Dunn and Raskin are both comedians, writers, YouTubers, and filmmakers. Although this book is fiction, the text is authentic and alive, so the story is believable. Reading this book almost made me feel like I was having a girls’ night in. (If you count fictional girls as company, then I was having a girls’ night in.) It draws you in with the realness and voyeuristic charm that comes with reading other people’s messages… minus the guilt of violating someone’s privacy. Plus, the story is varied with multiple subplots at all times. Whenever I had to stop reading the book, I’d think about it while I was gone because I just had to know what happened next.

The long distance friendship between Gen and Ava is the star of the show. Ava and Gen are based off of Dunn and Raskin, so this book is a true reflection of friendship. These two best friends have very different personalities. Ava is straight and more reserved while Gen is queer (bisexual) and more spontaneous. Still, as a reader, I noticed there was never a moment where I sensed that one young woman didn’t care about the other. Both women give each other advice and insight whenever the need for such reveals itself. If seeing women support each other warms your heart, this is the YA novel for you.

Please Send Help is fiction that’s based in reality, so it discusses real issues. The story delves into serious topics like toxic relationships, crushes, power imbalances, consent, LGBTQ oppression, homelessness, and more. Gaby Dunn is an LGBTQ activist and she clearly infused her knowledge into this story. I think it’s important for people to become aware of crucial subjects like these. This book spreads that awareness.

As a queer femme, I related to a lot of Gen’s experiences. That includes women attempting to use me to satisfy their boyfriends/The Male Gaze. Having my experiences accurately represented made me feel heard. For this reason, I’d especially recommend this book to other queer femmes.

From a feminist standpoint, this book is a good read. It’s very sex positive and empowering. The characters openly rejected racism, homophobia, and transphobia. (For the record, there is a transgender character is this book named Alex.) There were a couple of instances where the characters made problematic remarks. However, these remarks aren’t horrible enough to throw the whole book out. It’s clear that Allison Raskin and Gaby Dunn were considerate of other people when they were writing this.

Learn more about Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin on their website. For more updates, follow Dunn on Twitter. You can follow Raskin’s Twitter for more updates as well. Don’t forget to check out Just Between Us (their popular YouTube channel)!
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