Synopsis: As a freshman at Syracuse University, Alice Sebold was brutally raped & beaten in a park near campus. This book is her memoir of getting through that experience & its aftermath.
First Line: "This is what I remember."
Random Quote: "My life was over, my life had just begun."
Review: I'm really ambivalent about this book.
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On the one hand, I understand the impulse & need to write through & past such an enormously life-changing experience. On the other hand, I found myself skimming my way through chunks of the book about two-thirds of the way through because it just started to get disjointed & flat & jarring in some way that I just couldn't bear to read.
The first 100 or so pages are excellent, especially if you can get past the first chapter - an excruciatingly detailed explanation of what happened to the author. It's ironic that she notes at some point in the book that an essay she wrote for The New York Times Magazine about the experience was quoted in the "Trauma" part of a book on trauma & recovery & this inspired her to figure out more about what she needed to do to move forward - ironic because I think I'd still include her solidly in the trauma category & that makes me very sad for her & angry that this happens so often.
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This sounds like an intense and very sad read.
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way about this book. I liked parts of it, I was disappointed in others. Either way, worth the read.
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