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Ontkenning (2010)

by Jessica Stern(Favorite Author)

3.64 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

ecco

review 1: A memoir, masterfully written, describes the denial of emotions too shameful to discuss and too distressing for the family and the community (Concord, MA) to investigate: i.e. her pain and her shame at the brazen (in their own home) rape of her sister and she at the hands of a serial pedophile.I could not put the book down until finished. Stern is an experienced researcher of terrorism and the author of books on this subject. She serves on the Hoover Institution Task Force on National Security and Law. In 2009, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for her work on trauma and violence. She is an expert on .PTSD and understands the more advanced and complicated psycho-dynamics of DID (dissociative identity disorder).Stern’s career experience and her personal trauma coale... moresce in this memoir. “She gives an incisive account of the shape of the imprint of trauma on body and soul, and shows us how honest confrontation with what we already know, but try to forget, is essential in order be liberated from the past.”
review 2: This book was uncomfortable to read; not because it was "raw" or "personal" or "deep" but rather because the narrative was disjointed, often featuring digressions into discussions of events and people that were not related or at least, their relationship to the story not made clear. The writing style was generally good, however the author used many unusual sentences (e.g. "I should tell you about this") to join the narrative together. This made it hard to understand why we were being taken in the direction we were and resulted in poor flow from one aspect of the story to the next.Another aspect of this memoir which I found uncomfortable also concerns the voice of the author. She comes across as a very unlikable, arrogant and judgmental and often I sensed an air of superiority in her words. This made it hard to connect with and empathise with her and her experiences. Overall, I felt there were interesting portions to the story, which were unfortunately outweighed by an unlikable voice, poor flow and a lack of coherency in what the author was trying to convey. Although I did not like these aspects of the story, it is interesting to note that the story is presented precisely in the form of how the author sees her rape has changed her (i.e., lack of coherency, dissociative). Brilliant in a way but difficult to read. less

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