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A review by lizzyspooks
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I find this one difficult to review — I want to give it five stars because I get Ani. I’ve been there. I was her for a very long time. But I read Bright Young Women first and this one is not written as well, in my mind.
It is spoken from the mind of someone who has experienced it and it breaks my heart. No individual should ever encounter such atrocities in their life, but “we live in a world.”
Onto the big stuff:
The dedication is for those like TifAni, and I get this one. Not as extreme, but still a terrible situation with a “friend” — well at least the one that was a turning point in my life. And that makes me angry. The other time is held on a back burner because one is “so much worse.” Both are what they are.
But, I also held it in and didn’t tell people what had happened until I couldn’t hold it in any longer. That was the first time I had fallen asleep on the phone with someone. I bawled my eyes out to a good family friend about what had happened to me four days after my 18th birthday.
“Let me take you out for dinner, only as a friend!” Says the 21 year old who had somehow gotten my Snapchat a few months before and talked to me, a mere high school senior, nonstop. Is the age gap large? No, but I was freshly 18 and it’s still r@pe. (Funny enough how Ani wasn’t attracted to Dean and didn’t like him, that’s how I felt about this guy too). Terrified to say no, terrified to fight back. Terrified to cut him out of my life. Terrified because he even followed me to college. I missed out on so much trying to keep him happy. But I broke free. I’m able to call a spade a spade, and I have come back stronger and less angry now.
For those like Ani, I see you, I hear you, I am you.
It is spoken from the mind of someone who has experienced it and it breaks my heart. No individual should ever encounter such atrocities in their life, but “we live in a world.”
Onto the big stuff:
But, I also held it in and didn’t tell people what had happened until I couldn’t hold it in any longer. That was the first time I had fallen asleep on the phone with someone. I bawled my eyes out to a good family friend about what had happened to me four days after my 18th birthday.
“Let me take you out for dinner, only as a friend!” Says the 21 year old who had somehow gotten my Snapchat a few months before and talked to me, a mere high school senior, nonstop. Is the age gap large? No, but I was freshly 18 and it’s still r@pe. (Funny enough how Ani wasn’t attracted to Dean and didn’t like him, that’s how I felt about this guy too). Terrified to say no, terrified to fight back. Terrified to cut him out of my life. Terrified because he even followed me to college. I missed out on so much trying to keep him happy. But I broke free. I’m able to call a spade a spade, and I have come back stronger and less angry now.
For those like Ani, I see you, I hear you, I am you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder