Sunday 30 October 2011 | By: Nicole @ Nicole About TOwn

Review: Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

Title: Living Dead Girl
Author: Elizabeth Scott
Genre: YA, Social Issues, Child Abuse
Rating: R
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: September 2, 2008
Pages: 170
Source: Purchased Finished Copy
My Rating: 5*

[Goodreads | Amazon]

Synopsis

The thing is, you can get used to anything. You think you can't, you want to die, but you don't. You won't. You just are.

This is Alice.
She was taken by Ray five years ago.
She thought she knew how her story would end.
She was wrong.

Quotes

     The audience always boos and says You Should Have Done Something.  You should have fought back.  You should have known no one has that kind of power.  You should have been strong.
     You shouldn't have been so stupid.
     The women nod and sniffle.  They are still broken.  They still agree with everything anyone wants.  Even the ones who try to explain end up with their heads down, their hands in their laps.  Little girl ready to say she's sorry.
     All our fault, always.

My Thoughts

Let me start this review off by saying that I have a cast iron stomach.  I also have a pretty warped sense of humor and I am not usually bothered by things that would make most people spend the rest of their lives on a psychiatrist's couch.  Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott disturbed me so much that it actually made me physically ill.

I have read books about abuse and I have read books about child abuse.  None of the other books I have read have have communicated the utter devastation, degradation and hopelessness that is demonstrated in Living Dead Girl.  It's not enough to just say that Alice is a victim and to get glimpses of the abuse that she has and is suffering.

What makes this story so profoundly disturbing is the insight into both the minds of Alice and her captor/abuser/tormentor Ray.  To see that Alice knows that she is never going to get out of this, in the traditional sense of being rescued and going home, but rather that the only way out for her is death and to watch her accept and welcome this is absolutely horrifying.

All I have to say is thank the lord that this book was only 170 pages long.  I don't think I could have handled reading much more.

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About the Author
Hey there, I'm Elizabeth. I write young adult novels. I live just outside Washington DC with my husband and dog, and am unable to pass a bookstore without stopping and going inside.

All right, and I can't leave without buying at least one book.

Usually two. (Or more!)

Visit her website!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I totally agree. I'm typically not a reader who cringes easily but Living Dead Girl had me feeling extremely uneasy. Wonderful review, Nicole!


-Wendy from A Cupcake and a Latte: YA Reviews

Gwenyth Love said...

Wow. I have wanted to read this book for a while, and even though I too have a cast iron stomach, I'm kind of rethinking reading this now. Thanks for the review!

Nicole @ Nicole About TOwn said...

@Wendy - I was expecting to feel uneasy while reading this one, but this just went beyond. It was so not the book to read first thing in the morning.

@Gwenny - It's still a good book and really conveys what it sets out to do. Maybe that's the problem; it does it too well. The sad part is that even though this book is fiction, you know that stuff like this and even worse does happen to people far too often.

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