Wednesday 7 November 2018

Dark Chapter by Winnie M Li



How very unexpected; a novel about a rape is totally engaging.

Winnie M Li was herself assaulted it took her nine years of recovery and hard work for the novel to become a reality.  This is not the story of the assault upon Li but at least we know that she writes with authority.

Protagonist Vivian likes to take herself off on lone hikes and it is whilst on one of these on the outskirts of Belfast that she is raped by fifteen-year-old Johnny. Perhaps it is risky for a young woman to set off alone like that and in an early scene she is propositioned by middle-aged man. Indeed Johnny’s defence argues about that risk. Yet we probably all think that a woman ought to be safe on her own.    

Li gives us both Vivian’s and Johnny’s points of view up to and including the trial and beyond. The trial scene is particularly gripping.

Li does not spare us the horrors of the rape itself, nor of the discomfort of the police examinations and of the trial. 

The writing throughout is tight. Both characters are exquisitely drawn.      
              

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