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emmaward55 's review for:
Mobile Library
by David Whitehouse
DID NOT FINISH: 39%
This book was disgusting and surprisingly sexual. It was set reading for my Adult Book Club and I just couldn't force myself to read any more of it. The graphic triggers were nauseating and made me detest literally every character. Bobby was a creep who collected toenails and peeled skin from his violently abusive drunk of a father and Val, who is a random neighbour and not related to Bobby, strips the TWELVE YEAR OLD BOY naked not long after the whole town is calling her a pedo for bathing him in her home.
I'm no expert, but if you think a literal child that you barely know has been physically beaten and might have bruises under their underwear, maybe go to a hospital and get a chaperone and a professional to check them out! Val had no right to do that and she doesn't even ask for Bobby's consent, not that he could have really given it, as he was an unaccompanied minor.
The thing is, Whitehouse is trying so hard to make Val this saviour / mother figure who is ready to do anything to care for Bobby, but he goes about it all wrong. There was literally no reason for Bobby's bruises to be where they were on his body - bruises on his arms and calves would have been just as effective and wouldn't have necessitate Val stripping him. I missed if Val was actually washing Bobby's hair in the bath or if he bathed alone (I'm pretty sure it was the former) but the whole thing is too gross for me to go back and check. I don't want to read another 60% of a book where Bobby bonds with Val and she's made out to be some kind of hero for kidnapping a minor and fleeing the county with him.
God knows how I'm going to lead the discussion on this for book club, but I know at least one of the other members wasn't able to finish either due to the level of violence.
I'm no expert, but if you think a literal child that you barely know has been physically beaten and might have bruises under their underwear, maybe go to a hospital and get a chaperone and a professional to check them out! Val had no right to do that and she doesn't even ask for Bobby's consent, not that he could have really given it, as he was an unaccompanied minor.
The thing is, Whitehouse is trying so hard to make Val this saviour / mother figure who is ready to do anything to care for Bobby, but he goes about it all wrong. There was literally no reason for Bobby's bruises to be where they were on his body - bruises on his arms and calves would have been just as effective and wouldn't have necessitate Val stripping him. I missed if Val was actually washing Bobby's hair in the bath or if he bathed alone (I'm pretty sure it was the former) but the whole thing is too gross for me to go back and check. I don't want to read another 60% of a book where Bobby bonds with Val and she's made out to be some kind of hero for kidnapping a minor and fleeing the county with him.
God knows how I'm going to lead the discussion on this for book club, but I know at least one of the other members wasn't able to finish either due to the level of violence.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Car accident, Abandonment
Moderate: Miscarriage
There's also a lot of references to Bobby wetting himself, in unsettling detail and throughout the passages I read.