A review by rainb0wreads
Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston

challenging dark emotional inspiring tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I think it’s hard sometimes to rate and discuss books that discuss rape. 
However, I really enjoy the alley that this book takes with its discussion of what it means to be a victims of sexual assault.
Hermione doesn’t know how to feel about her rape, and she feels like there’s something wrong with her, or that she didn’t even really experience it because she was drugged when it happened and has no memory of it. 
There are many ways we can react to trauma, and I feel like it’s good to talk about the fact that not everyone is going to react according to what everyone expects.
From my understanding of other peoples thoughts on this book, everyone feels the main character under reacts. I think she’s in shock. Her body is in shock. I think this is what it would be like to feel like a part of yourself is lost and you don’t know what to do about it. 
This book is more about learning to heal and learning to experience pain than it is coping with the pain that’s there already. It’s Hermione’s journey in feeling again. Feeling sadness, anger, fear. Everything she didn’t know how to feel because she wasn’t conscious. Does she want to be? That of course is questionable. The real answer is she wouldn’t have wanted to go through it at all, so it’s truly a question that can’t be answered. All she can do is learn to be herself again.