A review by lucyduller
Know My Name by Chanel Miller

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

This is the first audiobook I have ever bought and trust me when I say it is worth every penny. 
 
This is a book where Chanel Miller, who was Emily Doe in the Stanford sexual assault case against Brock Turner, is given her voice. She is an excellent writer, and hearing her actually read her story aloud is so incredibly moving. 
We are so so lucky to have this book, so lucky that she decided to come forward publicly - she did not have to do that. In doing so, though, she brought the experience of being a victim of sexual assault to light. The experience of what it is like in the very rare case that victims take their perpetrators to court, and how gruelling it can be. 
Miller talks about how in the early days of the trial, the media focused on what Brock Turner lost - he was a good swimmer at Stanford and he could have gone on to compete at the Olympics. She sheds light on how she was blamed for this, rather than him having to deal with the responsibility of his actions. 
But she goes a step further; she details all the things that she lost, the things that were unseen. She had to move away from her home town, restart her life, quit her full-time job, derail her career and life for the cruel ways that court works. She was punished for wanting to protect others. She wanted to protect future victims of Turner, but also to protect victims by setting a legal precedent. She took on so much, but her court case was a success, it won on 3 counts beyond a reasonable doubt. 
But her perpetrator got 90 days in a state prison. And he never took responsibility for the sexual assault. His only admission being that he ‘drank too much’. 
As she reiterates throughout the book, it is not enough and we have to keep fighting. 
 
If you have time, please please read or listen to Chanel’s story. As I said we are so lucky to have this remarkable book, she could have easily continued on with her life without ‘coming out’ as the girl who got assaulted at a frat party behind a dumpster. But she spoke up, used her voice and told her story. 
 
If you don’t have time, please read her Victim Impact Statement. It is an abbreviated version of her whole story and is so so impactful, it is only one chapter long. The link to the viral Buzzfeed article of her statement is here: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katiejmbaker/heres-the-powerful-letter-the-stanford-victim-read-to-her-ra 
Otherwise, simply google: Chanel Miller, Victim Impact Statement. 
 
If you have the chance, please watch the YouTube video of her reading it. To actually hear her voice is so special and should be listened to by everyone - https://youtu.be/qK28Powy4ZQ or type in ‘Chanel Miller reads her entire Vicitim Impact Statement’ 

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