Clemmie Judges

MY DARK VANESSA

BOOK INFO

Title: My Dark Vanessa

Author: Kate Elizabeth Russell

Pages: 373

Publication date: March 10th 2020

Description: 2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher. 

2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who fundamentally transformed her and has been a persistent presence in her life? Is it possible that the man she loved as a teenager—and who professed to worship only her—may be far different from what she has always believed?

WHAT I WANT TO TALK ABOUT

This book is, as the title promises, dark. Like, whoa. It's super dark. 

One interesting aspect about this book is that it has no real story structure. Not one that I can pinpoint, anyway. To me, this is more of a collection of stories weaved into one. Even if they're connected, they can exist as their own stories.

Because of this fact, it's hard for me to talk about what I'd normally talk about in my review/analysis. Overall, this is a great book. Realistic dialogues, complex characters, solid world building. Me likey.

However! I want to talk about two aspects of this book which I find crucial. One is what makes it amazing, and the other is why, despite how amazing it is, I didn't like it as much as I could have. Mind you, this is not about how dark the book is. I have no problem with that. I went into this book fully knowing what to expect.

I'm still a bit disappointed, though.

But before we get to the bad part, let me explain what makes this book great.

The Power of Perspective

This book is told from the POV of the main character—Vanessa. We see the world through her lens. And that, in my opinion, is why the book works so well. Especially when we go back to the past and Vanessa's 15 years old. We see how indecisive she is. One minute, she's saying, "I love him!" and the next, she's saying, "I hate him!"

It's interesting, seeing her constantly shifting. 

Another thing I like is that the line between "crime" and "not crime" is blurry. Vanessa herself is second-guessing everything. It makes us second-guess everything too.

Nothing about this story is concrete. Did this character really do this? And is that character really that bad? Who knows? It all depends on the readers themselves. And I like that. I like that very much.

Now, however, we get to the reason why the book fails...

The Downside of Flashbacks

When Stephen King wrote in his book that you shouldn't write flashbacks, I disagreed completely. After all, the Crows duology had so many flashbacks, and I love those books! In fact, the flashbacks are part of what make the books so great!

Reading this book, however, I now understand what he means. (It's ironic since Stephen King himself read this book. Apparently, the author's dad knows him, or something.)

This book has two stories; one of the girl, and one of the woman. However, halfway through the book, all of the "mystery of the past" has already been settled. We now know what happened to Vanessa, so now, we can move on to the present, focus on the real story.

But no. The flashbacks are still there. Hell, I'd even say that there are more flashbacks then there are, well... the present. Which is disappointing, because what I want to know is, "What happens to Vanessa now?" 

Even worse, some of the things that happen in the past have no overall impact on the narrative. I'm pretty sure you can cut out entire chunks of the flashbacks, and have the story be more or less the same. I understand the reason why the author did it—to open up a discussion, to make you think. But if you have to sacrifice your own story for the purpose of sending a message, then don't write a book at all. Not a fiction book, at least.

OVERALL

This book is amazing. Terrific, really. It sheds a new light on "students and teachers" romance that hasn't been shed before. The descriptions are fantastic—I literally blanched when I found out that this is the author's debut novel. Like, no, really, they're the best. And the dialogues and characterisation are amazing too! 

I just wish the author didn't spend so much time in the past, and focus on the present instead. There were so many missed opportunities that she wasted too. 

Rating: 9/10