One of the books I read was called Against Their Will by Nigel Cawthorne. It was a true crime book with about 400 pages of horrific stories about victims and their abusers.
Within the novel, there were several different stories of kidnapping, torture, and sexual assault done to a all types of women. Each chapter of the book delves into the cases of women who were victims of these crimes. One chapter that stood out to me was about a young woman who was captured by her own father and trapped in a dungeon he spent years making in secret. He was a stern and harsh man, often seen as abusive around his town. After he captured his daughter, he told the people in his neighborhood that she ran away from home to join a religious cult. Knowing the behavior of her father, they were worried but thankful she was able to “get away” from him. With everyone, even his family, deceived by his lies, the father began to sexually abuse his own daughter. Trapped in a confined space against her will, she went through plenty of hardships. One of the most difficult hardships were the multiple pregnancies she had to go through because her father wished to build a family with her. All of the children she had were ridden with health issues straight out of the womb due to conception by incest. With unhealthy living conditions, permanent health issues, and constant abuse, the daughter had to withstand the torture from adolescence to adulthood.
Although this book’s subject was intriguing, I didn’t like how the book was written. Each chapter was a new story, and the book didn’t flow smoothly. It seemed that the details were a bit vague and lacked emotion in the words. The way it was written was more like a news article than a book to me. Though learning about the crimes that occurred was somewhat interesting, I would not recommend this book.
Joanne Marie Navarrete
When you were describing the book having a new girl’s story told every chapter, it reminded me of a book I read awhile ago called “The Lost Girls” by John Glatt. This book describes the story of three women captured Ariel Castro and their heroic journey to freedom. Every few chapters was dedicated to one of the three women but the transitions also lacked fluidity providing a lack of deeper understanding.
ReplyDeleteI am currently reading a book , Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed , and it has the same inconsistency in the plot. Each chapter was a new story , such as your book , but I enjoy reading it because im satisfied at the end of each chapter. I know what the problem is, and how the solution is found, but it sounds like you can't get the same satisfaction from these tragic stories. This book is for sure not one that I would prefer reading.
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