Book Club - March Book

My Dark Vanessa - Kate Elizabeth Russell

A compulsive, but difficult read, was our verdict on Helen’s choice.  Once again, seen against the background of vigils and protests sparked by Sarah Everard’s murder, issues raised were topical.  The title of the book is taken from Nabokov’s Pale Fire.  His book Lolita was instrumental in Vanessa’s grooming: ironically, it also performed the same function in Alisson Wood’s book, Being Lolita, in which she recalls her own remarkably similar experience of abuse by her English teacher.  Thus passing off a titillatingly abusive book behind a too subtle veneer of art. 

Some found the format of the book confusing:  it moves in time periods in the protagonist’s life from 15 - 32 years old.  Others found it apt and informative as it juxtaposes the hormonal confusions of the teenage psyche, desperate for love and praise, with the dysfunctional and chaotic present.   In addition, via its 1st person narration, it skilfully provides a subtext to suggest the controlling mindset and cruelty of the abuser.

It might be cited as a textbook guide to abuse, illustrating the way in which the abuser engineered control by isolating his victim from friends and family, dominating every aspect of her life so that in adulthood she could only describe herself as an empty shell.  He also made her complicit in her abuse: You’re in charge here  …… You can decide.  As a result, Vanessa refused to see herself as a victim.

We found the book well-written and especially admired passages evoking natural scenery.  To sum up, Russell gave us a perceptive and incisive analysis of the ambiguities inherent in abuse.