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Jeannie Vanasco: Things We Didn't Talk About When I Was a Girl: A Memoir (2019, Tin House Books) 4 stars

tw: rape / "A Literary Feminist Miracle"

5 stars

This book! Sophia Shalmiyev writes: "Vanasco performs a literary feminist miracle for all women who have been denied basic rights, been suspect, been labeled, been unbelievable after their rapes and assaults, and shines our collective shame outwardly, to ask a man why a choice to abuse is made." It's really an extraordinary book; as far as I know, nothing like this has been done before. Vanasco interviews the ex-friend who raped her when they were teens, and makes sense of his answers with input from her writing group, her friends, her editors, and her partner.