(book review)

First impression: Disgust and dissatisfaction that I was given such a book. Page by page, it got worse and worse.

To summarize briefly, this book is about the romantic relationship between a 15-year-old girl and a 42-year-old man who was her teacher. It’s also about the post-trauma that stayed with this woman for the rest of her life.

The book starts with the revelation of this man’s crimes. Taylor, another woman who encountered similar behavior that Strain (the teacher) initially displayed towards Vanessa (the main character), published her confession online. Then, the story jumps to the timeline when young Vanessa first entered that school. So, the narrative loops between the present and the past.

I liked the ending. It’s bright and filled with semiotic meaning. Small spoiler: at the end of the story, Vanessa gets a puppy. This small, seemingly insignificant detail describes the relationship she had with that man for many years.

The aftertaste of the story can be described as suffering, full of dirt, harsh, sticky, uncomfortable- but I’m genuinely glad that I finished reading it!!!! 😀 (I had a brilliant idea to read it in chronological order, from past to future, but I didn’t dare to reread the story!)

In general, this story shows how complex the human psyche is; how difficult it is for a person to say “no.”

I wouldn’t recommend reading it, at least for the sake of preserving your mental health (T~T), but this story raises many questions, and together with the characters, the book does provide answers to some of them.

My rating is 5/10.