This book was incredible! Just the unique and clever type of read I needed. I loved that the main protagonist was disabled and learning about his daily life. I absolutely just fell in love with him; really ALL the supporting characters in this book. This was a special special read that left me with a smile and tears in my eyes. No doubt it’s too early to say, but I think this will be my favorite April read (it’s 4/5 as I write this). I’ll be recommending this to many and am thankful I got early access to it!

The present-day timeline takes place in 2008. Why do you think the author chose this year for the story? How do you think the story would have differed if it were set today? Il film “The Accused-Sotto accusa” di Jonathan Kaplan del 1988 dove Jodie Foster subisce uno stupro di gruppo proprio sopra il flipper di questa foto. Adult rape is a hard crime to classify. It's easy to get tangled up in legal arguments about consent, or to reduce its seriousness by hinting that the victim somehow had it coming. Even with DNA, it's a crime that is often impossible to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt. Yet in a very real way, rape is as serious as murder. It spares the finite of a person's body, while destroying the infinite of the soul. Rape is at once both a simple and complext subject. Regardless of the victim and rapist, it ties, cuts, right to the heart of our views about gender. It is impossible to step this, and it has been used to inspire terror and as a form of punishment. The complex follows afterward as Sebold details not only her reaction, but those of the police, the lawyers, her friends, her family, her community's (both college and home) reaction to her rape. This is both raw and compelling because it touches at the complex issues that lie at the hear of any reaction to rape.Poi ho visto Alice Sebold a Massenzio leggere alcune pagine del suo nuovo romanzo e ho aspettato con ansia che fosse pubblicato. Daniel lost the ability to speak a few years before the start of the book. He communicates with people by slowly typing out words on his computer that a robotic voice reads aloud (think Stephen Hawking). However, Daniel’s closest companions, his home health aide Marjani and his best friend Travis developed a different way of communicating with him… telepathy. Come dicevo, la storia è proprio quello che è successo ad Alice quando aveva diciotto anni: stupro. Rape.

While looking for clues, Lizzie spots some strange footprints and an unusual blue creature that stands out from the rest! But what is it, and where did it come from? Could it be the key to saving the day? When I saw her, she was cowering in the corner, and the look in her eyes, that mingling of fear and alertness, is something that I've never forgotten. (The only thing I can compare it to is my dog, Henry, who I rescued from a shelter; when I first got him, whenever I raised my voice, he got that same slinking, terrified look, as though waiting for his next beating). As a man, I'm genetically incapable of understanding what the experience meant for her. Indeed, unless I'm convicted of a felony, I probably never will. All I'd ever know was the external stuff: how we broke up; how she walked about campus with a certain listlessness; how she started smoking and drinking and doing things she hadn't done before; and how she dropped out of school a year later, and disappeared into the rest of her life, while I stayed with the rest of mine. Broadwater was tried and convicted in 1982 based largely on two pieces of evidence. 1. Sebold identified him as her rapist on the witness stand, and 2. microscopic hair analysis, which has since been deemed junk science. For me, one of the most fraught scenes in the novel happens early on, when a police officer visits Daniel's home to get information in the case. Daniel is eager to share what he knows to try and help the missing girl, but the detective sees Daniel in the wheelchair and realizes that he can't communicate without using a text-to-sound device, and immediately ignores him and starts to leave. It was so frustrating how impatient the officer was, and that he just assumed Daniel was mentally deficient. But the reader knows the truth — Daniel is smart and observant and funny. Just give him a minute already!

Marissa Stapley

a b c d e Matthews, Karen (November 23, 2021). "Conviction overturned in 1981 rape of author Alice Sebold". The Associated Press. ISSN 0190-8286 . Retrieved November 29, 2021. I’ll give you an example. Daniel, who has used a wheelchair his entire life, is describing Travis as being talkative, so much so that people usually get worn out and just leave the conversation. Here’s the analogy Daniel goes with: Saw the cute little house cover with a blurb from Stephen King "A fantastic novel.....You are going to like this a lot." I'd say, "I liked it, and I was thinking about it for a few days after I finished it."

Second up date as of 12/2/2021 - Sebold has issued an apology. here. Memoir pulled for redrafting to include the exoneration. Later, he sees the news report of a missing woman, Ai-Chin. He remembers "That is the girl. And that was the car." He finds himself a "witness". It's hard to know how someone who has not been through the R-word would take a book like this, thinking it is too exhibitionistic or histrionic, perhaps a cry for attention or a way to say "This is why I'm worthy of a memoir and your personal tragedies are not." I'm not sure how well this book would educate non-victims either since it is so personal, rather than a rape-crisis-center-type pamphlet ("what to say/not to say to a victim"). But Sebold does depict the range of reactions, and sometimes I find her responses to the "bad reactors" a little curt, like she was built more for emotional survival than I was -- or maybe it is the other way around? But another part of me was like, dude, you magically erased this guy’s disability because it was difficult for you to write about, so... STFU. Also, everything that was being said was very generic. You could replace ableism with any other -ism and it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. It was at this point that I googled Leitch’s connection with SMA; his young son has a friend with the disease. In my opinion, nobody should write an authoritative, firsthand account about what it’s like to be part of a marginalized group, if you’re not in that group.It’s like “the way you wait for an elevator too long, realize it’s never coming, and just take the stairs.”

What do you make of Margaret Jean’s character? Does she bear any semblance to the book’s main characters? I think a lot of people are going to LOVE this one because the merit is there--I would recommend it to some, but it just was not one that I loved. Not a thriller, but has a "I can't stop reading it" kind of feel (even with some slow parts). It's different. But at the heart of the story is Daniel’s heart. His goodness, warmth, and positivity. He educates the reader on spinal muscular atrophy, but even more so, the microaggressions and not-so-microaggressions those with physical disabilities are confronted with. I’ll never forget my time spent with Daniel or this most memorable and engaging story. Fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Anxious People, and Good Eggs will fall in love with this book, and with Leitch's compelling narrative style. The unflinching hope, optimism, and intrinsic goodness seen in the first-person narrator, Daniel, will absolutely restore your faith in humanity, and the beautiful portrayals of friendship and devotion will warm your heart.Overall this is a worthwhile read. No real surprises, but an intriguing character study with a few likable ones.