A review by starzyk
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

5.0

This is a book everyone who can handle the content should read. It is not an enjoyable book and is definitely going to be triggering for some people, but if it is not triggering, then you should read it. The way Russell manages to make the reader both understand how Vanessa came to be groomed as well as showing how wrong it was in a first person POV is astounding. In the time period where Vanessa is 15, I could understand for the first time how someone falls for the game her teacher plays. I understood before this book that adults groomed children, and I knew it wasn't the children's fault, but I didn't understand how anyone could be so naive. This book shows it is more than naivety. It shows the situation in all of its complexities and subtleties. The book does become less interesting in the second half, but it is necessary to bring the book to its outstanding conclusion and make it believable.