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A review by lydiavsbooks
Any Man by Amber Tamblyn
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
A difficult read, but a brilliant one. This is about a female serial r*pist, and the men she assaulted. Its about what happens after a sexual assault, about how you can carry on after going through something like that. Its about the way we treat victims, the blame, the shame, the disbelief. Its about what we put victims through and the expectations we have of what a 'good victim' should be. Its about the expectations we have of men, about how they should fight back, how we define r*pe.
Its beautifully and harrowingy told in a mix of prose and poetry. Its about the way we respond to these stories, the way we debate someone's suffering, the way we want to know all the details. It highlights how we care about horrific acts as long as they're new and novel and exciting, and how quickly we loose interest once that's passed. A female perpetrator, male victims, the media response to that compared to the attention payed to daily assaults that happen to women.
It confronts how it isn't about who the victim was before, about judging their character, about how much they fought back or how much they were 'asking for it'. It isn't about them, it could have been any man.
A couple of quotes:
'I live in a country built on celebritizing its citizens grief and amplifying stories of violence and assault for political gain, click counts, or television ratings.'
'People who live through sexual assault are a crash on the side of the road, and the American media is nothing more than cars slowing down just long enough to take a peek before speeding off to their next fatality
'A country that says innocent until proven guilty even though the proving of assault is nearly impossible. Tell me how you prove coercion?'
Its beautifully and harrowingy told in a mix of prose and poetry. Its about the way we respond to these stories, the way we debate someone's suffering, the way we want to know all the details. It highlights how we care about horrific acts as long as they're new and novel and exciting, and how quickly we loose interest once that's passed. A female perpetrator, male victims, the media response to that compared to the attention payed to daily assaults that happen to women.
It confronts how it isn't about who the victim was before, about judging their character, about how much they fought back or how much they were 'asking for it'. It isn't about them, it could have been any man.
A couple of quotes:
'I live in a country built on celebritizing its citizens grief and amplifying stories of violence and assault for political gain, click counts, or television ratings.'
'People who live through sexual assault are a crash on the side of the road, and the American media is nothing more than cars slowing down just long enough to take a peek before speeding off to their next fatality
'A country that says innocent until proven guilty even though the proving of assault is nearly impossible. Tell me how you prove coercion?'
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Eating disorder and Suicide attempt