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Pretty When She Cries (2011)

by Sarah Kate(Favorite Author)

2.91 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

Science Fiction

publisher

Sarah Kate Books

review 1: I rarely review books, but I am making a special case for PRETTY WHEN SHE CRIES because it offended me on a very special level. Is that because the book portrays rape, violence, and torture? No. It's because that's ALL it does--portray it. This book has absolutely nothing new or interesting to say about the psychology of either the victim or the perpetrator, and it doesn't even "push the envelope" in rape fiction. Not only that, it's poorly edited, badly written, and emotionally lifeless. In short, it failed on every level imaginable.Why did I read this book in this first place? Partly because I'd seen the author on the Kindleboards talking about the fact that Amazon had refused to list it due to its content and I was curious to see what the fuss was about. But I wouldn't ... morehave finished if it hadn't been lent to me by a friend, who begged me to read the entire thing so she'd have someone to bitch to about it.My problems with this book began before the plot even got to the rape. Within the first five pages, I found multiple instances of missing or misplaced commas. On either the first or second page on my Nook for Android app, the text says the protagonist has gone to visit "her boyfriend Cameron"; this is the sort of missing comma that is the difference between a polite question ("Are you eating, Uncle Ralph?") and cannibalism ("Are you eating Uncle Ralph?"), and it's pretty much inexcusable. If you make that kind of mistake in the first 200 words, I've already pretty well lost faith in your competency as a writer. Later in the book, I nearly choked laughing when, after the protagonist says she's cold, the villain responds, "I know I can see you shivering." Wow, I'm glad he knows he can see! There were also numerous typos/misspelled words ("course" for "coarse"; "middled" for "middle") that further convinced me the book hadn't been subjected to a proper edit prior to being published. That's just insulting to people who are paying good money for a product, and I'm glad I didn't pay for this one.And once the rape plot gets going? Oy! The rape scenes are dull, emotionless, and repetitive. There was so much "sawing" of fingers, I expected someone to yell "Timber!" at any moment. After the first few times, there's simply no point to the gratuitously graphic scenes because they all have exactly the same impact, which is that the heroine is ashamed, horrified, in pain, disgusted. It's redundant. The book would have been the same (or perhaps better) with less than half those scenes. They weren't needed and seemed included purely for shock value. The problem is, they failed to shock because each one was almost exactly like the last.Add to these problems the clunky dialogue--at one point, for example, the villain goes on for pages about his experiences in prison, in language that's far more erudite and self-conscious than suits the character--and the utterly flat ending, and you have a book that doesn't work on any level. It doesn't accomplish any of the things it claims to and, in fact, undermines itself by chickening out of dealing with the horror it's supposedly setting up. I can't even say it's full of sound and fury, but it certainly signifies nothing.There are much better books out there that explore these kinds of topics. Off the top of my head, I'd direct you to COMFORT FOOD by Kitty Thomas and ARENA OF SHAME by Kate Benedict. And if I were Amazon, I'd have refused to list it, too. Not because it's shocking or envelope-pushing, but because it's a bad book.
review 2: Vanessa Wu wrote:"any reader with an imagination will have a physical reaction to this book."The only reaction I had, was to take a shower and read something else.I missing the deepness in this book, there is rape, there is only rape actually and mainly physical rape. I don't see Nicole breaking, she seems the same for me the whole book.Nicole is some hot chick, but never really said anything about e.g smell. I know, after being raped smell is not really a concern. But if you live in a dirty house, I am sure the rapist (forgot his name already) won't be that clean. I was trying to imagine some scenes. She is describing his breath at her neck, but what about the smell? No disgust there?I just want to have more information about what she is feeling. Pain okay that's natural in that situation, but there has to be more. And the sex itself.. I am used to more, different stuff, not only forced vanilla positions.As mean as it sounds, I think he is not fully using her, he could do better and more. At least let her clean the house ffs!This book is disturbing, but not that much that it should be banned. Amazon is overreacting in my opinion.Still 3* because it is disturbing, it is well written and I somehow still liked it. less

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