Coffee Bean Bookshelf

This book packs a powerful punch for being just 126 pages. It’s a tough subject, but one that I think is important for everyone to know about. If you don’t know someone who is the victim of rape, then you are lucky. Or maybe you just don’t know.

I was surprised at the end of this book to find out that Alina Klein, the author, was a rape victim at an earlier age. So I’d imagine that what Valerie goes through in the book is pretty accurate to how she would actually feel. And how to you critique that? I have to say that I think that Valerie’s character was very strong, and I loved her for it. Sure, she was having a VERY hard time dealing with what happened, but she was trying to pick herself back up. She was trying to be as normal as she could, even when she couldn’t.

Her mother, older brother, and younger sister all made me cry at one point or another. Every one of them had to deal with the guilt, a similar (yet different) guilt to what Valerie was feeling – the guilt that Adam *should* have had. Obviously, I hated Adam. I hated the kids at her school – who, instead of rallying together and helping this girl, turned their backs on her and sided with him. I was SO mad at her so-called “best friend”.

The saddest part of this whole book is that I *know* it’s true. I know that the victim has to prove that she’s innocent, instead of the other way around. I know that she has to under-go tests and evaluations, and relive that moment again and again and again. It’s why so many women don’t report it. And the thought *sickens* me.

In my opinion, everyone needs to read this book. It’s not new material, there are lots of other authors who have written about this. But I think it’s important to read a fictional account from someone who has BEEN there – someone who knows exactly the type of trauma that this crime inflicts. And someone who can show all women that there *is* a light at the end of the tunnel. There is help. There are people out there who care. And that, if should a woman fall victim to this heinous crime, she didn’t do anything wrong.