My Dark Vanessa

this is by far the most disturbing & painful book i've ever read. it's crushing my soul & like a glass piece cutting thru my mind but i don't cry, just bleed out like Vanessa did. it F me up pretty bad. she's 15, the kind of teenager yearning for adulthood, desperate to be taken seriously. well, who wasn’t like that as a teenager? unfortunately, when Strane, a 42 years old English teacher, starts to give her the attention that she thinks she needs, she falls for his manipulative, mind-twisting sexual abuse. this leads her into decades-long battle convincing herself that it's love, not abuse. 

thing is, the system & everyone failed Vanessa. other teachers do nothing. her friends vilify her. she’s a victim, not a participant, whether she thinks so or not. but we live in society where she isn’t permitted to be deemed a victim, she’s deemed troubled, willing, a slut. it’s a student sleeping with a teacher to get good grades, not a child being sexually abused by a grown man. even her mother drops the ball. it's so disappointing.

well, i think that this is a very well-written & thought-provoking novel about pedophile. it’s important that we learn not to draw distinct parameters of what's deemed abuse, thus marginalizing women who didn’t understand they were being abused, like Vanessa.

trigger warning: the story's a little too graphic at times. understand the shock-value of the explicit scenes, that it’s meant to be uncomfortable. it can be bit too much for some of you.