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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