Carla reviewed YOU HAVE A VERY SOFT VOICE, SUSAN by Brian Whitney
None
3 stars
This is a wild ride of a true crime memoir, recommended if you are looking for something completely different. It is frustrating, in more than one way. Susan befriended her stalker and felt sorry for him--she is refreshingly forthcoming with her faults, and with the problems in her family and her background that led to her choices--but it's hard to read. When someone repeatedly violates your boundaries and endangers you, do not feel sorry for them and stop all contact. I have been stalked, I speak from experience.
The other frustration for me was the uneven writing. Susan penned phrases that were just gorgeous, and then she would use the word "awkward" three times in two sentences. She works in the publishing field, and had a co-author, so such a roller coaster in the prose was surprising.
I guessed what had happened to her, who the perpetrator(s) were, and I …
This is a wild ride of a true crime memoir, recommended if you are looking for something completely different. It is frustrating, in more than one way. Susan befriended her stalker and felt sorry for him--she is refreshingly forthcoming with her faults, and with the problems in her family and her background that led to her choices--but it's hard to read. When someone repeatedly violates your boundaries and endangers you, do not feel sorry for them and stop all contact. I have been stalked, I speak from experience.
The other frustration for me was the uneven writing. Susan penned phrases that were just gorgeous, and then she would use the word "awkward" three times in two sentences. She works in the publishing field, and had a co-author, so such a roller coaster in the prose was surprising.
I guessed what had happened to her, who the perpetrator(s) were, and I was well chuffed with myself. My psychology and counseling degrees aren't going to waste. :) What I noticed was
Spoilerthe prose was the same for several of the individuals, notably the frequent and inappropriate "lol"s peppered throughout the emails and letters. It's rare for different people to have the same writing style, especially to have such an odd tic. Linguistic forensics is a fascinating field. Also, her friend seemed to enjoy what was happening, and told everyone, including people Susan didn't know, every detail. Things like stalking and threats of bodily harm tend to be a private matter.
I'm glad I read this book, yet I felt uncomfortable and strange after reading it. I don't know if this was a result of the things I've mentioned in my review, or my own history, and my own CPTSD.