Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

29 reviews

xo_lali's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

Moderate: Addiction, Suicide, Grief, and Death

Minor: Toxic friendship

jordanleigh321's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

hannahhansa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Sexism, Pedophilia, Drug use, Suicide, Sexual content, Rape, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, and Death

mari_addor99's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

No rating.

I'll gather my thoughts before I can make a proper review of this one

20/02

THIS IS NOT A LOVE STORY

First of all, I don’t plan on rating this book. I don’t think 5 stars are adequate to the subject of the story, although I can se why so many people love it; just like rating it 1 or 2 stars wouldn’t be doing it justice. Because, for me, this is not a bad book - although I do see the controversy behind it. 

I listened to this story on audiobook format and it came with extra content - two interviews with the author. She makes it clear that we are not supposed to interpret this as a love story - it is, in it’s most pure form, about a pedophilic, abusive relationship.  

❗️❗️TW for pedophilia, abusive relationships, gaslighting, suicide ideations, suicide, abuse of narcotics, rape, ptsd.
Vanessa Wye is 15 years old when she falls in love with her boarding school literature professor. He is 42. He calls her beautiful, intelligent, mature for her age. And yet, when she’s with him, he makes her dress like a child, begs her to call him “daddy” while he touches himself. She lets him because he’s the only one who truly sees her and because she’s utterly alone, and he know it.
Years later, when she’s about 30, she still talks to him. Vanessa doesn’t consider herself a victim because doing so would be admitting to the horrible things that happened to her in the hands of Jacob Strain. So she lies to everyone and to herself, calls it a love affair, a consensual relationship. Even when her former school colleague comes forward exposing the same teacher for abuse. To Vanessa, you are only a victim, if you choose to be one. Right...?
The author weaves the thread of her tormented psychological state, shattered by years of manipulation, gaslighting and downright physical abuse, into a carefully placed lie that Vanessa repeats to herself over and over again through the years.

This is a very well written book, I’m not gonna lie. It had me hooked from the start. But it’s also extremely violent. And I think this is the part I’d change if I could. Too many explicitly sex scenes, all of which were non-consensual. I think the story would still have its impact if these excruciatingly explicitly scenes weren’t in it. I feel like they’ve “cheapened” the book, used only for the sake of shock. 
Now, the comparison to Lolita.... It stops at the pedophilia. But the author made clear, Vanessa’s fascination with the book, brought on by Strain, is only a form to readdress the issue: this is not a healthy relationship in neither shape or form. 
My final thoughts are:  I’m glad it’s over. Am I glad I read it? I don’t know, but it sure left an impact. This is not the book for everyone

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Domestic abuse

Minor: Suicide

acampbell_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting

megan_deathe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book was brilliant, the writing was incredible and the topic of abuse was explored so deeply but yet so sensitively. Russell created a book that is gut-wrenching and extremely painful to read, but so important. Vanessa and her story will stay with me forever, I have never felt so much empathy for a character in my life. The book handles her story with so much care and seeing her viewpoint change from being a powerful enabler to being a manipulated child is both heartbreaking and liberating. Having the story be written in first person and present tense is so powerful as you truly see how complex abuse is, the love she felt from Strane does not diminish the fact that he is her abuser. One of these facts does not diminish the other, they both coexist and this makes it so hard for her to understand how awful he was to her. Overall this book is in my opinion a brilliant temple of how to discuss traumatic events in a respectable but impactful way. Although I will be wary to recommend this to people due to the very sensitive subject matter, this book will have an everlasting effect on me. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Suicide

millieh404's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Rape

angel_lyd's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

My Dark Vanessa is the story of fifteen year old Vanessa who, at boarding school, is groomed and abused by her english teacher, forty-two year old Jacob Strane. The structure of the story is reflective, with one chapter being her in present day, reading posts where other girls have come forward with their stories of him abusing them, and one chapter her, back at boarding school telling the affair story as it is happening. 

I found parts of the story disturbing and upsetting, it does go into detail about the ways he manipulates her and what he does to her. 

One of the main reasons I felt so connected to this book is because I’ve been through a similar thing myself and I struggled for a long time to see myself as a victim. Strane pushes ideologies into her mind about things that make girls attractive, making Vanessa’s present day self extremely conscious of how men look at teenage girls. She sees girls like herself as victims but can’t see herself as one.  

Her present day life essentially revolves around Strane, even though they aren’t together and he stopped finding her attractive when she was a young adult, she still cares for him and is under his spell. It’s a very hard read, especially if you’ve been through something similar yourself. It left me feeling numb afterwards but also made me rethink my own situation and now 5 months after reading I can honestly say this book helped me enormously. 
 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

This book is an emotional read, please only read this if you can handle descriptions of sex between a minor and adult, suicidal thoughts and mental health problems, grooming, and pedophilia

auteaandtales's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence