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I ended up finishing this in one sitting, staying up late, because I couldn't stop reading it. Holy poo poo.
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Nov 15, 2017 19:26
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Same: MORE SPOILERS As someone who's been in a similar hosed up situation, I'd say the psychology in this novel is spot on. It's hard to instantly stop loving someone when they suddenly turn into a monster, because you're totally in shock. It often takes that extra step over the line before you get fed up enough to say gently caress this poo poo. It's even harder when you're young and it's a parent because you can't just up and leave the loving bastard. And you can end up so angry for years, you have to watch you never take your anger at your abuser out on someone else when they accidentally stumble into your past—which made me not completely hate the mother, even though her past doesn't excuse her at all from taking it out on her daughter. Also the fish and the lesbian sideplot were a bright light in the abyss and I was thankful for both of them. If the novel had been totally dire from beginning to end, I would have angrily cast it aside as abuse porn. Instead, both the fish and sideplot fleshed out Caitlin as a person instead of just a stand in for a little girl with an abusive mom. E. I should probably mention I'm not trying to use "Mah experience!" to shut down discussion or anything. It's just what I took from it. I found this book cathartic. Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Nov 16, 2017 |
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Nov 15, 2017 23:41
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Cpt. Mahatma Gandhi posted:Personally I welcome the "Mah experience!" perspective for the simple reason that I honestly can't relate. There were several instances while I was reading where I questioned a character's actions or reactions to the abuse they were facing and had to keep reminding myself to more or less check my privileged, for lack of a better term. Hearing from people like you that the book accurately depicts the physical and emotional trauma of an abusive parent-child relationship (or any abusive relationship, really) is incredibly educational for someone like me who hasn't been through that kind of situation. I should probably add that this kind of experience is a specific kind of abuse that doesn't follow the "standard script," that is people whose abuse is a slow burn for years they can't escape. The Jeckle and Hyde type, where Jeckle seems totally loving and stable for years until some deeply-buried monster is revealed, is a royal mindfuck. In my case it was an ex whose assholism was barely foreshadowed before I moved to a small town with him and his hidden alcoholism suddenly manifested and changed him into a total piece of poo poo. It happened almost as fast as it did to Caitlin and resolved itself almost as quickly—I got the hell out of there as soon as I could and recovered ok. Caitlin's story ends up being hopeful in a similar way, because both she and her mom have people who love and support them (and probably won't let them alone in a room with each other again). Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 00:33 on Nov 18, 2017 |
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Nov 18, 2017 00:15
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