I knew this would be a hard read just from the blurb, and I was not wrong. I felt this was a very accurate portrayal of an abuse victim, and the nebulous ending really gave the sense of no closure that many abuse victims sadly end up with. ( )

captures sexual abuse and its effects quite well. the confusion, the emotional roller coaster, the thoughts of self loathing and blame and not trusting the adults around. the strength that she finds. this is powerful and important, i don't think many books were talking about this in 1994.

the writing was...good for this effect, but also not quite right. strange syntax and use of commas, incomplete sentences that didn't quite make sense. i wanted a little more from the writing, as well as a little information in the story, like her age. (we can figure this out eventually but it took too long to know that she was even in high school.) ( )

Found this for a quarter, and it hung out in my office for a few years to be read before putting it on my classroom shelf. There are some Voigt novels that were on my classroom shelf when I moved into that room, so I thought she was a middle school level author. First of all, it's a good thing I didn't put this on my shelf. I'd get in big trouble, most likely.

Voigt brings the reader into the mind of a victim of sexual abuse, and it definitely answered a lot of questions I had, mainly, why would a girl put up with it? How can he get away with it? Why on earth wouldn't she tell? I am satisfied with the answers, and I think I have more of an understanding of and therefore more tolerance for the victims.

I loved the ending. I loved the beginning. The middle was just painful. And now I'm wondering....how many of my students are going through this?

( )

Powerful. ( )

Tish legt op een ochtend tijdens het ontbijt plotseling een scherp mes op tafel, de punt gericht op haar stiefvader, die tegenover haar zit. Dit is het begin van een dag waarop alle opgekropte gevoelens van Tish een uitweg zoeken. Opnieuw wordt duidelijk dat haar moeder haar niet steunt en ze beseft dat er maar één is die haar kan helpen tegen haar stiefvader: Zijzelf. ( )