Book Club - Louise’s Selection

“The judge had given Brock something that would never be extended to me: empathy. My pain was never more valuable than his potential.”

I don’t think it’s possible to succinctly put into words how important this book is. It presents us with a first hand account of everything that is broken in the criminal justice system. A system that has become less about justice and more about profitable business. A system that caters to privilege, class, gender and race.
“This is about society’s failure to have systems in place in which victims feel there’s a probable chance of achieving safety, justice, and restoration rather than being retraumatized, publicly shamed, psychologically tormented, and verbally mauled. The real question we need to be asking is not, Why didn’t she report, the question is, Why would you?”

It was incredibly hard to read at times, but I kept going. Because more than it being difficult to read, it was important for me to read. To educate myself. To be aware of the failings of the systems put in place to protect us. To incite change in those systems. To understand what it is to be a victim by reading the story of a victim in her own words. To be a smarter and kinder ally.

“Cosby, 60. Weinstein, 87. Nassar, 169. The news used phrases like avalanche of accusations, tsunami of stories, sea change. The metaphors were correct in that they were catastrophic, devastating. But it was wrong to compare them to natural disasters, for they were not natural at all, solely man-made. Call it a tsunami, but do not lose sight of the fact that each life is a single drop, how many drops it took to make a single wave. The loss is incomprehensible, staggering, maddening—we should have caught it when it was no more than a drip.”

(My only criticism is that it was perhaps 50p too long. But this is a minor notation for a book so relevant and necessary for society today.)
4.5 stars.