Reviews

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

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storied's review against another edition

3.25

Everytime I put on this audiobook I fell asleep and it kept playing, but it was so slow I didnt miss that much.
Okay overall but not super captivating.

danawho's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective tense 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? Yes

4.25

novabird's review against another edition

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5.0

This is the way books should be written on this topic! Despite taking 20 years to write, it was exceedingly well worth the wait for its full blossom. Faultless.

Now, to those who think it was x-Rated material not suitable for those under 18, I wholeheatedly disagree.

It was mild in its depictions of sexual assault. There was not one iota of gratutious violence. Yes, there was degredation.

Yes, Vanessa was dark. But she was not as dark as many other females can be.

For Vanessa, it was initially a role for her. A role that she thought she needed to take on to quell her anxiety and her social awkwardness. If Mom failed, she did in that she wasn't able to see that her daughter needed help. Her hoarding garbage in her drawers was not just an eccentricity or a quirk. It was a symptom that Mom did recognize, "Who does that!?"

This was a book that revealed grooming techniques. It revealed a believable predator with a well practiced script. It showed a portrait of a girl becoming a woman

It also showed the role that mothers play.

Spoiler

Her mother asks her for her forgiveness.

It showed the power of daughters and mothers to heal and to thereby break the cycle of SA.

Needs to be read by any younger female who is contemplating voluntary sex for the first time with an older partner. In otherwords, it should be taught in highschool along with the other books on this list by teen librarian recommendations.https://teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2017/04/25/sjyalit-ten-young-adult-novels-for-sexual-assault-awareness-month-a-guest-post-by-clara-kensie/

Truly powerful and remarkable!

moulvalerie's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

hollyway's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad 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

Another case of my expectations building me up for disappointment, not because the book is bad but simply because it's not what I had imagined it would be. The biggest nail in its coffin (dramatic phrasing considering I don't dislike it overall lol) was definitely the way people touted it as being "in conversation with" Lolita, or even being "Lolita from Dolores' perspective". I went and hammered that nail in myself by rereading Lolita in preparation for this novel, because I wanted the details and my own interpretation fresh in my mind before I entered into this "conversation". It feels strange to say that I felt more empathy for Dolores all throughout Lolita than I did for Vanessa at really any point in My Dark Vanessa. NOT because one suffered worse than the other (as if such things can be measured) but because even through Humbert's evil eyes, Dolores and the characters and world that make up Lolita were painted so vividly as to make them feel heartbreakingly real - and while My Dark Vanessa is a competent novel, it sadly pales in comparison.
So now that I have indulged myself in said - perhaps unfair - comparison, let me talk about what this novel does well. Most of all, I respect its uncomfortable complexity. Vanessa is a deeply "imperfect" victim and it was a brave choice to embrace that messiness. Likewise, Strane is a vile predator but he is not a caricature. His grooming and control tactics were portrayed with disturbing accuracy. Ultimately I do think that this novel does a good job of its main goal, which is to depict an abusive relationship without flinching from any of the pesky nuance that gets in the way of simple labels and easy answers.
With that said, I felt that although the characters and situations were messy, the author seemed afraid to let the readers draw too many of their own conclusions. It seemed a little too self-aware at times, with even 15 year old Vanessa spelling out the power dynamics at play in a way that felt a bit incongruous and on-the-nose. In general there were a lot of things made literal that I would have liked to remain implicit, perhaps leaning more into Vanessa being an unreliable narrator. Then again, I've seen people mad about this book romanticising the abuse when I feel it went too far out of its way to explain and undercut Vanessa's romanticisation, so I guess you can't win!
Ultimately, it's a good book. It does well at what it set out to do. I was just hoping for more in terms of artistic merit (the prose was fine, but it didn't pull me in, didn't make me want to pay attention to the details, and no particular lines stuck out to me) but it was very readable and who knows, maybe I will appreciate it more with time and distance.