Like many other readers, when I picked up this book, I expected a quick read. After all, how could one sketch a history that penetrates deep into a person and stays with them for a long time in just under two hundred pages?
Oates surprised me. More than that, she blew me away. The first two pages are powerful. Because the rape scene is not presented from the perspective of the raped, no. We experience it in the company of a twelve-year-old girl who herself just escapes the crime by hiding from the rapists.
The rest of the story hurts even more. Because the most accused person in society and during the trial is the victim, not the rapists themselves. And one can then say, "fortunately, this would never happen in real life!", but is that really the case? How many situations are there where young people are behind the crime and instead of condemning them, everyone around talks about how their lives have been wasted.
Does justice finally triumph? Does the victim find peace? Perhaps, I don't want to spoil it for you. However, I believe that in this book it's about something else. It's a demonstration of how people are able to excuse their closest ones even for their worst crimes. A demonstration of how much women are stigmatized at the moment when their only guilt is that they are women who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
This book hurts, it shocks, and it definitely stays with a person for a long time.
