Kid reviews for Time Zero

I read this book for a reading assignment and came to this site, hoping that it was a good read. A reviewer gave it 4/5 so I trusted it. But, I read it myself and this book is honestly a 2 or low 3 on the side of family friendliness. While this book is a great social commentary, an overarching issue of true love and sex is dealt with, with much VIVID imagery whenever sex is involved. I stopped reading this halfway through because of the many scenes in the book that painted very real images of sex between people.

I don't understand why CSM says that a 12-year-old could read this. Sexual content includes kissing on forehead, cheeks, lips, and neck; discussion of romance and marriage; girls are married off to older men; two characters pass through a red light district and prostitutes are seen; a character tries to (unsuccessfully) rape another. Violence includes extreme oppression of women. A mob stones a woman to death and men beat their wives and children. People argue, are slapped across the face, punished with taser-like weapons that injure severely, shot with guns, caught on fire, stabbed with forks, and hit with chairs. There are some uses of damn, hell, sh**, and the made-up insult saitch (reminiscent of b**ch). The main character gets drunk in one scene. This book is thought provoking and interesting, but it is also a grim and dark depiction of a world run by extremists.