A review by nolawords
Know My Name by Chanel Miller

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Chanel Miller, thank you. 

 

May I share my own story? Those gentle, unwanted brushes against me in crowded spaces. Strangers’ vulgar requests for favors. The use of my body while sleeping. The absence of consent. The terror that lies in what is not remembered. 

 

Miller has given a voice to not only her own experience, but, as she states, “to girls everywhere.” I am one of those girls. There is a good chance you are one of us too. 

 

Someone in my life remarked that sexual harassment / assault was almost a “rite of passage into womanhood.” How is this acceptable? How horrific is it that this is our cultural norm, so common, so ingrained, that it has become a “rite” on the journey into adulthood - one we have no choice but to take? 

 

This book is a tour de force, the mark of a cultural change. It deeply moved me, it opened up old pain, it helped heal it anew. I make my remarks here with deepest gratitude.