giftofbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.75
This was a hard read, especially with recent events surrounding this story. She doesn’t pull punches when she’s describing the process of being raped. And how the trauma doesn’t stop after the success of the trial during the time. She still had so many issues after it all happened.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, and Rape
james1star's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.5
TW: this book contains graphic descriptions of rape and sexual assault. Additionally, racism, misogyny, drug use, alcoholism, mental illness and other possible triggers are mentioned/alluded to.
It is so difficult to write a review for this book. It was an extremely difficult read - making me feel intense mental and physical emotions. From the get-go, Alice’s graphic retelling of her rape is not for the faint hearted but I do appreciate her matter of fact and ‘telling it like it is’ approach which continues throughout the book. Albeit hard to read and quite sickening in parts, I do feel it is worth reading. Her rape, her story and life is worth telling and we should always listen to those who have lived through such a traumatic event. It is sadly the case that rape victim’s stories of their experience is too often ignored, not believed, not taken seriously, not taken further, not given the full force of the law that it deserves and so it brings up the point of discussion that a whole rejigging of the police system and law enforcement needs to occur to drive it home that victims matter, their stories matter and rape needs to be a thing banished to history.
Coming back to the book (I will touch on the trial effects later), it is written very well. Alice paints a very vivid image in your mind as to what is being described and brings out intense emotions in the reader. This is very well done and the memoir does flow well. You are gripped and want to read on. If it was a piece of fiction I personally would have ended it after chapter 12, this seems like a good ending - you have accompanied Alice through an extremely difficult event, it’s affect on her and her relationships with friends and family, her studies and future, you have felt her emotions in the poem (my personal highlight - the anger and revenge portrayed speaks volumes “I need the blood of your hide
on my hands. I want to kill you with boots and guns and glass.
I want to fuck you with knives. Come to me, Come to me, Come die and lie, beside me.” Is a snippet) and have been through the trial with her, all the questioning and tension she is feeling but perfect professionalism (and bit of one-upping her opponent in parts) despite being so young, she gets the outcome we all wanted, shows signs of recovery and starting to get her life back. But… it’s not fiction, it’s her memoir and the events in the last chapter and aftermath (slightly glossed over and rushed in my opinion) did happen and as horrifying as they are, are part of her story which needed to be shared.
As a book alone, I believe it is really well written and flows great - the topic is obviously not pleasant but it is gripping, emotive and you do want to read on. Now that being said, the fact that the man accused and jailed for her rape was innocent makes it very hard to fully comprehend this book. On this matter, Alice clearly has PTSD from the rape and it’s brutality affected her in profound ways. I would like to believe she wasn’t lying and accusing the man for the sake of it, she did believe him to be the man who raped her and whom she saw on the street in the fall of that same year. The police system are at larger fault with dependance on the hair testing (later considered unreliable) and how they may have just thought he was the same person the officer had seen when Alice did. I am not downplaying the horrific and unjust fact that an innocent man lost 16 years of his life spent in prison and other long term impacts on relationships, employment and so on but reviewers flat out saying Alice lied I believe to be wrong. I believe, not know. She did, in my opinion, have certainty that that was the same man who raped her, who she saw again on the street and who was on trial, the fact it wasn’t is due to her PTSD and probable other mental health issues.
To end this very hard review, a quote quite early on in the book really stuck with me:
“The cosmetics of rape are central to proving any case. So far, in appearance, I was two for two: I wore loose, unenticing clothes; I had clearly been beaten. Add this to my virginity, and you will begin to understand much of what matters inside the courtroom.”
This was her take on a rape that occurred in 1981, wrote about in 1999 but sadly remains true in 2022. Too often the ‘cosmetics of rape’ are focused on when in reality it doesn’t matter. A rape doesn’t occur because of anything other then a rapist committed a rape - doesn’t matter to who, what they were wearing, if they were drunk or high, what their gender, sexuality, age or anything. Never blame the victim.
Another quote, this from the trial section follows:
“I will seething. I had gotten my energy back because what my clothes had to do with why or how I was raped seemed obvious: nothing.”
Exactly that.
It is so difficult to write a review for this book. It was an extremely difficult read - making me feel intense mental and physical emotions. From the get-go, Alice’s graphic retelling of her rape is not for the faint hearted but I do appreciate her matter of fact and ‘telling it like it is’ approach which continues throughout the book. Albeit hard to read and quite sickening in parts, I do feel it is worth reading. Her rape, her story and life is worth telling and we should always listen to those who have lived through such a traumatic event. It is sadly the case that rape victim’s stories of their experience is too often ignored, not believed, not taken seriously, not taken further, not given the full force of the law that it deserves and so it brings up the point of discussion that a whole rejigging of the police system and law enforcement needs to occur to drive it home that victims matter, their stories matter and rape needs to be a thing banished to history.
Coming back to the book (I will touch on the trial effects later), it is written very well. Alice paints a very vivid image in your mind as to what is being described and brings out intense emotions in the reader. This is very well done and the memoir does flow well. You are gripped and want to read on. If it was a piece of fiction I personally would have ended it after chapter 12, this seems like a good ending - you have accompanied Alice through an extremely difficult event, it’s affect on her and her relationships with friends and family, her studies and future, you have felt her emotions in the poem (my personal highlight - the anger and revenge portrayed speaks volumes “I need the blood of your hide
on my hands. I want to kill you with boots and guns and glass.
I want to fuck you with knives. Come to me, Come to me, Come die and lie, beside me.” Is a snippet) and have been through the trial with her, all the questioning and tension she is feeling but perfect professionalism (and bit of one-upping her opponent in parts) despite being so young, she gets the outcome we all wanted, shows signs of recovery and starting to get her life back. But… it’s not fiction, it’s her memoir and the events in the last chapter and aftermath (slightly glossed over and rushed in my opinion) did happen and as horrifying as they are, are part of her story which needed to be shared.
As a book alone, I believe it is really well written and flows great - the topic is obviously not pleasant but it is gripping, emotive and you do want to read on. Now that being said, the fact that the man accused and jailed for her rape was innocent makes it very hard to fully comprehend this book. On this matter, Alice clearly has PTSD from the rape and it’s brutality affected her in profound ways. I would like to believe she wasn’t lying and accusing the man for the sake of it, she did believe him to be the man who raped her and whom she saw on the street in the fall of that same year. The police system are at larger fault with dependance on the hair testing (later considered unreliable) and how they may have just thought he was the same person the officer had seen when Alice did. I am not downplaying the horrific and unjust fact that an innocent man lost 16 years of his life spent in prison and other long term impacts on relationships, employment and so on but reviewers flat out saying Alice lied I believe to be wrong. I believe, not know. She did, in my opinion, have certainty that that was the same man who raped her, who she saw again on the street and who was on trial, the fact it wasn’t is due to her PTSD and probable other mental health issues.
To end this very hard review, a quote quite early on in the book really stuck with me:
“The cosmetics of rape are central to proving any case. So far, in appearance, I was two for two: I wore loose, unenticing clothes; I had clearly been beaten. Add this to my virginity, and you will begin to understand much of what matters inside the courtroom.”
This was her take on a rape that occurred in 1981, wrote about in 1999 but sadly remains true in 2022. Too often the ‘cosmetics of rape’ are focused on when in reality it doesn’t matter. A rape doesn’t occur because of anything other then a rapist committed a rape - doesn’t matter to who, what they were wearing, if they were drunk or high, what their gender, sexuality, age or anything. Never blame the victim.
Another quote, this from the trial section follows:
“I will seething. I had gotten my energy back because what my clothes had to do with why or how I was raped seemed obvious: nothing.”
Exactly that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Misogyny, Mental illness, Racism, Blood, Drug abuse, and Drug use
_fallinglight_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Conflicting book. After keeping up with the news about Anthony Broadwater's exoneration I wanted to read for myself how this got so wrong. Everything Alice Sebold went through is tragic and I honestly do feel sorry for her. And I know it's a knee-jerk reaction to start questioning the rape itself but that's not right. She was abused. Nonetheless, I don't feel she was coached by the cops or DA to pick the wrong man. She was sure herself that Anthony Broadwater (Gregory Madison here) was her rapist and thought that all the questioning the defense brought up was unfair. The cops biases and system helped her get the result she wanted bc she was sure AB was her rapist. She's aware she was the perfect victim and used that as her countermeasure. She wasn't lead on but the prosecutors and cops didn't do much to look deeper. I'm still appalled how no one even gave a thought how messed up her “well #4 and #5 looked like identical twins” was such a racist dogwhistle. AS does try to kinda go out of her way to show she's not that racist but in her effort she comes across as a “I have Black friends” type of person. I don't know, maybe her prejudice was always there and the rape and PTSD exacerbated it. Now there are a lot of instances in the book I find myself questioning (like if it's true she saw him on campus after the lineup and cross). I also feel weird about how she says that she wished many times her rapist had been white. It's weird how she felt no one took her seriously because the law considered her a hysterical white racist woman and that Black people had more power because of their disadvantages judicially or something. It's like she kept feeling that her rapist being Black diminished her trauma. There are so many sad and strange things about this book and made me think so many things that I don't feel comfortable voicing that I'm glad it's being pulled (I illegally downloaded this idc) because a lot of people's characterizations in it are unfair and mean. I understand AS felt she was speaking her truth, but it turned out that truth was askew.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Racism
robynne1118's review
dark
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, and Drug use
Minor: Alcoholism
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