“The work of telling is essential. And it is not enough. There is always the danger that the energy of the injustice will exhaust itself in the revelation. That we will be horrified, but remain unchanged.”⁣⁣
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In this powerful memoir, Lacy Crawford recounts her experiences with sexual assault while attending St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire in the early 90s. With clarity and bravery, she shares the relevant stories of her three years at the school and the dramatic lengths the administration went to in order to silence her. ⁣⁣
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I was particularly moved by her writing style and reflectiveness. Crawford is honest about what happened, her mental state, and her self-doubt. Occasionally she even points out that this is all happening in a world of extreme privilege and how she struggled to allow herself to acknowledge the the depth of her pain because she knew that her situation was one of wealth and status which somehow made it feel less important. ⁣⁣
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What she experiences is both atrocious and so normal: the prioritization of protecting men, the unethical leveraging of authority, the slander that followed her for years. I saw a review that said something like “This will be shocking to no woman and hopefully moving to men everywhere.” I deeply agree. ⁣⁣

I listened to an audiobook version. Lacy Crawford narrates it herself and it adds even more to the story to hear her inflections. Thank you to Libro.fm and Little, Brown for the ALC.