It has been awhile since I’ve been gripped so mercilessly by a book, you know the ones where you can’t seem to put it down? I finished this book in 24 hours (with a bit of sleep in between). I can’t even begin to describe the nuance that Kate integrated into her storytelling, nuance that I would say many would shy away from because of such a heavy topic, but a conversation we should be having non the less.
Without getting into too many details, the story is just as much about confronting our biases and how we think a victim should act (i.e. the ‘perfect victim mentality) as it is exploring the destruction and warped sense of self a pedophile inflicts on his victim.
I am always a sucker for an unreliable narrator trope, and Vanessa is written so perfectly in that sense. I can read between the lines and see the truth, even before Vanessa has those realizations years later with her therapist. And you too will likely see it, but that is what makes this writing so ingenious. We know that what Vanessa is saying is not true or right even as she tries to convince us otherwise. But even her naivety is shattered in moments when the horror of her situation is laid bare, and not even she can sugar coat what has happened.
Spoiler alert
Like, for example, in the scene where Strane rapes her. Vanessa paints the night before in almost a romantic light, only to have it all come crashing down as she describes waking up the next morning to him naked. It was heartbreaking, because we saw where this was going, had enough foresight to know nothing good comes from a forty-two year old man pining over a fifteen year old girl. The fact that she romanticized Lolita in such a grotesque way, the message completely flying over her head as she fails to see Humbert Humbert as much as an unreliable narrator as she is, was almost tragically poetic.
End of Spoiler
There are so many instances where the story had me screaming, because we see at so many points Vanessa being let down by the adults around her, again and again, even by the ones who are trying their best to protect her.
Make no mistake, this is a heavy topic that at times can be difficult to read, and Vanessa is not a very likable main character, but honestly that was a part of what made this story feel so raw. If you like a story with any of the following themes, I highly suggest you give this read a try:
- Unreliable narrator
- Past and present switching views
- An amazingly competent therapist (she’s not a heavy main character by any means, but I attribute her to really helping Vanessa see the truth in what she endured)
- An ending that does not have a neat little bow tied to it
Book rating: 5/5, Vanessa I hope you are still seeing that therapist
