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lillihayes's review
5.0
A brilliant and thoughtful piece of reporting. For anyone who has ever wondered why victim-survivors don’t report, this book is brimming with gut-punching explanations. It feels strange to say I am grateful to Louise Milligan for writing this, but I truly am. While Australia’s legal system is a horrendous and frankly, unfair place for complainants (see: this entire book), I’m somewhat hopeful our legal landscape and societal attitudes can’t not be shaped by Milligan’s expert journalism. Okay I know that’s naive. But fuck, I felt this one in my bones.
jerseyfemme's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
5.0
This really hurt to read. My God this will sit with me for awhile.
lemmington27's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
wynteramethyst's review
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
5.0
This is not an easy read, but it is an important one. It’s unflinching in its investigation into the Australian legal system and how it fails victims of sexual abuse.
I’m not really sure what I can say that hasn’t been said a hundredfold already… Milligan has written two novels and both are highly decorated with nominations and awards for literature and journalism. She must have dedicated almost a decade of her career to this topic at this point. She is intimately familiar with her research and as a result of this and her writing prowess, is able to engage and guide the reader through a narrative that is sometimes harrowing, other times necessarily dredged in the finnicky details of a trial, and other times still, somehow empathetic even while delivering the most damning of criticisms. I would have expected a novel with so much density to be difficult to get through but I could not put it down, and she does an admirable (inspiring, even) job of really taking seriously all interests at play.
I wholeheartedly recommend Witness to anyone. I borrowed a copy from a friend but I’d like to purchase one of my own so that I can lend it to every reader I know.
That said, I ought to caveat that when I say it’s unflinching, I really mean it, and this may not be a suitable read for those who will have trauma triggered by description of the cases she looks at. One aspect of the legal system that causes so much pain for victims is the repeated re-living of traumatic assault, the aggressive scrutiny and questioning about the details incredible physical and emotional distress. Milligan does not shy away from this, and I think it’s to her credit – she pulls no punches in her expose, but for some I know it could be too confronting.
I’m not really sure what I can say that hasn’t been said a hundredfold already… Milligan has written two novels and both are highly decorated with nominations and awards for literature and journalism. She must have dedicated almost a decade of her career to this topic at this point. She is intimately familiar with her research and as a result of this and her writing prowess, is able to engage and guide the reader through a narrative that is sometimes harrowing, other times necessarily dredged in the finnicky details of a trial, and other times still, somehow empathetic even while delivering the most damning of criticisms. I would have expected a novel with so much density to be difficult to get through but I could not put it down, and she does an admirable (inspiring, even) job of really taking seriously all interests at play.
I wholeheartedly recommend Witness to anyone. I borrowed a copy from a friend but I’d like to purchase one of my own so that I can lend it to every reader I know.
That said, I ought to caveat that when I say it’s unflinching, I really mean it, and this may not be a suitable read for those who will have trauma triggered by description of the cases she looks at. One aspect of the legal system that causes so much pain for victims is the repeated re-living of traumatic assault, the aggressive scrutiny and questioning about the details incredible physical and emotional distress. Milligan does not shy away from this, and I think it’s to her credit – she pulls no punches in her expose, but for some I know it could be too confronting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence and Sexual assault