A review by lucyp21
Dark Chapter by Winnie M Li

5.0

The thing is with books like these, where the author uses their own experience to inform the book (more than most authors at least) is that the books tend to be important books to read but not very well-written. This was absolutely not the case with this book, it was incredibly compelling. I found it hard to put down but also hard to read on without stopping because the way Li writes is so very real. The switching of POVs between the two characters, as well as the setting up of the backstory, could have been confusing but Li managed to pull it off in a brilliant way. The way Vivian had to deal with her own feelings, as well as the legal proceedings and her work and friends' reactions to it, was written really well and I loved (in a heartbreaking way) at how other women shared their own experiences with rape that Vivian never knew about until this had happened to her. I liked how she noted how it was only her male friends who wished prison rape on her rapist.

Johnny was done well too. It was obvious how his past and his family led to him turning into the violent man in the book, but Li managed to write him in a way so you could understand why he was like this but she never excused what he had done before. The mentions of Johnny having done the same to other girls as well and how he doesn't really see exactly what he had done wrong was chilling.

This was an interesting book to read and I would definitely recommend it.