A review by neurodivengeance
The Double Shadow by Sally Gardner
4.0
Most of this review is spoilers. Content notes for the book: rape, child rape (teenager), domestic abuse (familial legacy of, some graphic scenes of both paternal and maternal abuse: violence, neglect, violent neglect). The first rape (of a teenager) happens very early in the narrative.
Problems:
- Tommy as 'autistic angel.' The memory machine *curing* Tommy of the "worst" of his neurodivergence. Then he gets married! Cos he's almost normal now! Fuck off. He is such an unrealised character, un-fleshed out. He doesn't seem to have any actual faults. I just ... let autistic characters be actual people?????
- the repeated insistence that the "cure" for child abuse is romantic love. It isn't. Sure - experiencing love as it is supposed to be, as a feeling of warmth and safety with someone that knows you and whom you know, is healing to me as a survivor. I need it. But the belief that this love needs to be romantic has caused me a lot of pain, encouraged me to have multiple relationships with unsuitable people, some of whom were abusive themselves. This kind of romanticising of recovery - narratively placing it in the hands of one person - might be tempting to do, but it was a let-down for me. I think Amaryllis deserves better than to have her sense of stability be dependent on someone other than herself.
- the ending was a disappointment. Sure, it was sad when it seemed like Ezra and Amaryllis had to be separated into different worlds. (It was sadder to me that Amaryllis was stuck in the horrible, memory machine world.) But then when she came out and they reunited it just felt a bit forced. Having read Maggot Moon, I was expecting a twist of the knife, and I was ok with that. But then I got a sickly happy ending and it was just a bit of a disappointing way to close.
Spoiler
For the most part, I really enjoyed this. The setting was great, the characters were mostly believable, and it was really healing to see Amaryllis navigate sex after her rape experience, and all the active consent involved in her relationship with Ezra. The idea of the memory machine was compelling and terrifying and, while familial legacies of abuse were a plot point, they were not used as a plot device. This book says something very real about those patterns.Problems:
- Tommy as 'autistic angel.' The memory machine *curing* Tommy of the "worst" of his neurodivergence. Then he gets married! Cos he's almost normal now! Fuck off. He is such an unrealised character, un-fleshed out. He doesn't seem to have any actual faults. I just ... let autistic characters be actual people?????
- the repeated insistence that the "cure" for child abuse is romantic love. It isn't. Sure - experiencing love as it is supposed to be, as a feeling of warmth and safety with someone that knows you and whom you know, is healing to me as a survivor. I need it. But the belief that this love needs to be romantic has caused me a lot of pain, encouraged me to have multiple relationships with unsuitable people, some of whom were abusive themselves. This kind of romanticising of recovery - narratively placing it in the hands of one person - might be tempting to do, but it was a let-down for me. I think Amaryllis deserves better than to have her sense of stability be dependent on someone other than herself.
- the ending was a disappointment. Sure, it was sad when it seemed like Ezra and Amaryllis had to be separated into different worlds. (It was sadder to me that Amaryllis was stuck in the horrible, memory machine world.) But then when she came out and they reunited it just felt a bit forced. Having read Maggot Moon, I was expecting a twist of the knife, and I was ok with that. But then I got a sickly happy ending and it was just a bit of a disappointing way to close.