Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott
Simon Pulse- 2007 Hardcover, 170 pg
Library
Book Synopsis:
Once upon a time I was a little girl who disappeared.
Once upon a time my name was not Alice.
Once upon a time I didn't know how lucky I was.
When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends -- her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over. Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her.
Haunting Quote
I want to lie down on the bench then, or better yet, on the grass, rest on something living and see if I can hear the dead underneath. But I can’t because then people will look and Ray doesn’t like looking, wants me silent, his little ghost girl.
Pg. 96
Review--- PG-13 Warning this is a graphic review not suitable for everyone.
Living Dead Girl is “Alice" a fifteen-year old girl kidnapped on a school field trip when she was ten. Her captor, Ray, has sexually and physically abused her every day since he kidnapped her. The reader willing to enter Alice’s haunting story endures Alice’s everyday life with Ray. The sexual abuse is tortuous and hard to read through- even though the scenes aren’t explicitly graphic- the reader has no problems connecting the dots.
Then we starve with Alice as Ray rations out food and only allow’s her yogurt every day. Alice is kept in an anorexic state so she won’t begin her period or develop. The consequences for periods- terrorizing beatings- the consequence everyday- rape. Alice is raped and sexually abused multiple times a day, it basically consumed the entire story and makes the reader so raw with emotion we are twisted with thoughts wanting to see Ray dead or see Alice die, just to stop this madness.
Consumed with fear, hopelessness and starvation from food and love, Alice losses all aspects of herself, she seriously is a living dead girl. With her spirit crushed and her soul literally dead, she begins to see the world through hate filled eyes and some of the thoughts she has, the ideas of hurting others become downright hard to read.
Alice's has multiple opportunities to escape, to tell someone- but Ray has brainwashed her to a point where she is a walking prisoner. She truly believes he will kill her parents if she escapes. Alice just wants him to kill her with the kitchen knives so the nightmare will end. Unfortunately Ray’s plan doesn’t end with a knife- but ends with Alice kidnapping a new girl, who can be trained with Alice’s help- the scary part, Alice wants too, so he will stop raping her and start raping a new girl. Alice at one point thinks- Ill even hold her down for him if the pain will just stop. That is the most horrifying part of book, because we the reader know that there is nothing left for Alice- even if she did escape, what would her life look like? Not that I completely wanted to throw in the towel for Alice, but it was disturbing for me to think that- that this beautiful girl was broken down into a dead soul. How in the world could she ever be reborn? Scott's writing is gripping and thought provoking. She is such a brilliant writer and connects us with Alice so immediately that you are heartbroken for this fictional character who could be your next door neighbor.
After finishing Living Dead Girl I felt a heavy burden on my heart. For a mother reading this story it’s unbelievably sad and breeds fear in the heart of a parent. I almost never want to let my precious children go, but living in fear is unhealthy and what I can take away from a story like this is to be more vigilant in what my kids are doing and where they are at, whether it be out with me or at school. The truly scary aspect of this book is the fact that it can happen and has happened. We’ve seen it and yet we know nothing of it. Even more frightening is when we do nothing to stop it.
Rating
Living Dead Girl is a written nightmare that I found difficult to read. Should teens read it? I don’t know- I think it’s scary in a sense that has nothing to do with the bogey man under your bed, but the real bogey man around the corner that rapes, destroys and kills.
Highly-severely- sexual and the language is graphic, content and overall feel of the book is very disturbing and I would only recommend this to the adult/mature teen ---or one capable of handling this content. Alice’s story is not one easy to shake off.
3/5 - YA- Kidnapping- Abuse
Wow... this is a powerful review, as I'm sure the book is. I'm not sure if I want to read it though. Definitely not in between any other sad books, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteGood review. I think it would be a hard read just by looking at the title.
ReplyDelete