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A review by latad_books
The Day Shelley Woodhouse Woke Up by Laura Pearson
4.0
3.5 stars.
Shelley woodhouse awakens from a coma in a hospital bed, and all she can remember is being attacked by her abusive husband. When she later finds out that it’s actually years after that attack, she must slowly recover her memories of the intervening years, and why she again awakened from a coma. She begins remembering her childhood, and the complex relationship she had with her mother, her loving grandmother, and the abusive man her mother invited into her life.
Luckily, Shelley gradually recovers all her memories, and discovers there has been much love and rewarding accomplishments in her life since her husband pushed her down the stairs of their home years ago.
In this novel, author Laura Pearson attempts to grapple with a few of the reasons why women may stay in abusive home situations, using titular character Shelley Woodhouse, and her mother.
Pearson does not attempt to tackle the whole societal mess that allows domestic abuse to not be universally deplored. Instead, she shows two generations of women who find themselves betrayed and beaten repeatedly by their supposedly loving partners, whose anger and hard fists are tolerated and excused by first Shelley’s mother, who refuses to confront her terrible situation, citing these are just difficulties in marriage and one just needs to get on. Then, later by Shelley, who is too ashamed to tell anyone, especially as she had seen the same thing happen to her mother.
Pearson writes heartwarming stories, but this book one was pretty dark, dealing with abuse and gaslighting by the women's partners. Pearson shows how abuse affects not just one member of a family, but also later generations. Pearson also shares some of the depressing statistics for domestic abuse.
I really liked how Pearson's use of the two timelines, one during Shelley's past, the other starting from the book's opening in the hospital. The author skillfully shows how Shelley's choices in the past inform her present.
While this books subject matter was a little surprising, I still enjoyed it, even though I found the incidents of abuse a little difficult to get through.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Boldwood Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.
Shelley woodhouse awakens from a coma in a hospital bed, and all she can remember is being attacked by her abusive husband. When she later finds out that it’s actually years after that attack, she must slowly recover her memories of the intervening years, and why she again awakened from a coma. She begins remembering her childhood, and the complex relationship she had with her mother, her loving grandmother, and the abusive man her mother invited into her life.
Luckily, Shelley gradually recovers all her memories, and discovers there has been much love and rewarding accomplishments in her life since her husband pushed her down the stairs of their home years ago.
In this novel, author Laura Pearson attempts to grapple with a few of the reasons why women may stay in abusive home situations, using titular character Shelley Woodhouse, and her mother.
Pearson does not attempt to tackle the whole societal mess that allows domestic abuse to not be universally deplored. Instead, she shows two generations of women who find themselves betrayed and beaten repeatedly by their supposedly loving partners, whose anger and hard fists are tolerated and excused by first Shelley’s mother, who refuses to confront her terrible situation, citing these are just difficulties in marriage and one just needs to get on. Then, later by Shelley, who is too ashamed to tell anyone, especially as she had seen the same thing happen to her mother.
Pearson writes heartwarming stories, but this book one was pretty dark, dealing with abuse and gaslighting by the women's partners. Pearson shows how abuse affects not just one member of a family, but also later generations. Pearson also shares some of the depressing statistics for domestic abuse.
I really liked how Pearson's use of the two timelines, one during Shelley's past, the other starting from the book's opening in the hospital. The author skillfully shows how Shelley's choices in the past inform her present.
While this books subject matter was a little surprising, I still enjoyed it, even though I found the incidents of abuse a little difficult to get through.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Boldwood Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.