A review by mbp
Things We Didn't Talk about When I Was a Girl by Jeannie Vanasco

4.0

(3.5) I admire the author for her courage in contacting her rapist and opening up a conversation about the rape and its effects on them both. But the writing is so convoluted. I think she's trying to craft this in such a way that the reader has an experience similar to hers when processing the rape: the thoughts are not linear; they circle and repeat. This doesn't necessarily make for a good experience for the reader. There are too many discussions with her boyfriend, her friends, her fellow writers, and also verbatim transcripts of her conversations with her rapist. Too many other voices; too little of her own. It's as if she doesn't know how to feel, and is looking to everyone else for cues. Still, it's brave, and very interesting to hear both voices about their friendship, the incident itself, and the aftermath.