Scan barcode
Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'
You All Grow Up and Leave Me: A Memoir of Teenage Obsession by Piper Weiss
8 reviews
quantumponies's review
3.5
Graphic: Self harm, Pedophilia, and Suicide
snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition
Graphic: Suicide, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Body horror, Death, and Alcohol
rattgurl's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Pedophilia and Sexual violence
ariam's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, and Pedophilia
tdhaswell's review against another edition
First, this memoir was written really well.
Piper Weiss writes about her teenage-self, attending tennis lessons with her coach Gary Wilensky. Wilensky is later found to be a child-stalker and pedophile after his failed kidnapping of one of his students. Weiss explores the psychology behind how exactly Wilensky was able to befriend and gain the trust of so many children (his students)- and that alone is extremely interesting. She then revisits her connection to Wilensky in order to find out why, 30 years later, she is still so fixated on how the coach she trusted so much could be this dangerous person.
Piper makes it known that although she is shaken by this traumatic discovery and is grateful that she was never a victim of his, she still has this unshakable attachment to him and she wonders why it was not her that he chose to kidnap. For this reason, many people disliked it, but I was fascinated by it for the exact same reason.
It's brutally honest and unpacks her trauma of being an 'almost victim' and how the manipulation by Wilensky affected her ability to see him for what he really was.
Graphic: Self harm, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts
liv_reads99's review against another edition
4.5
-VERY interesting story and from the younger current perspective of the author
-
Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Violence
moosycakes's review against another edition
4.5
Piper gets very difficult, complex and little talked about emotions across very well in this book. I also like how she included some stories regarding the difficulty of growing up Jewish in an area where that was seen as different/other, and about privilege and the difficulty in being able to see/recognise your own privilege- while not the main point of this memoir, it helped add to the picture of Piper's teenage life and brought up some important concepts.
I think a lot of people are disappointed in this book because they go into it expecting true crime. This is not really a true crime book, this is a book where someone is processing and explaining complex feelings regarding a crime, and the impact of how grooming behaviour and having a close relationship with a person who turns out to be a child stalker can have on a person, even if "nothing really happened" to them. This can be extremely complex mentally and for some people, this book could be extremely enlightening to their own mental state, complex histories, and difficult relationships with confusing trauma.
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Self harm, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Stalking, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Death, Adult/minor relationship, and Blood
Moderate: Eating disorder, Antisemitism, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gore, Drug use, Bullying, and Body shaming
Minor: Infidelity
blueowl2ivy's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm
Moderate: Pedophilia, Mental illness, and Kidnapping