This is another in the “Goodbye Earl” series of books that are popular now whose primary message is it a man sexually assaults you, you can murder him. At least the Dixie Chicks made it clear that the wife tried to take the correct course of action through the legal system with no luck? In this book, it was just somehow assumed that no one would have wanted to help the victim. Feels like a lack of effort.
The most disappointing thing in this book was that until the VERY end, it was unclear whether or not Kya (the protag) actually committed the murder of her rapist. Why oh why could the author have not awesomely left it open? Leave us wondering? Leave us curious if it was a fall? By telling us clearly, there’s no empowerment — there’s a discoloration of the rest of the character’s life. So now is she a sociopath who lives with the fact that she murdered someone, or is the rest of her life centered on her guilt as a murderer? Come on. Either’s just a let down. It is not a pro-woman message to make a victim into a murderer. The eye-for-an-eye thing is not empowering. It’s barbaric. I’m just sick of books with this message.
I’m also sick of books that think love is some kind of chess match where you have to try and outsmart each other, and I do not enjoy someone who tries to build tension through creepy touching as children are growing into teens from a very brother/sister style relationship. Meh.
I sound really negative. This was a beautiful, winsome book. Kya’s journey was lovely. I loved the way the author made an obvious path for her to find great success and even financial security in a world Kya otherwise rejected. I just don’t honestly understand why that couldn’t have been the story. Why did the story have to be a sexual assault from a former intimate partner and a subsequent murder? Obviously, I understand that does happen in the real world, and it’s a very authentic part of some people’s stories.
I just wondered in this case why Kya’s journey couldn’t have been about Kya. The author let the other characters be the central force in the story. I wanted Kya to be Kya’s story.
