My Dark Vanessa: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AS SEEN ON TIKTOK

'My Dark Vanessa' by Kate Elizabeth Russell is a devastating novel, written with brutal honesty and agonizing emotion. I finished this book with tears in my eyes and an ache in my heart, a heaviness in my soul for all that this fictional character, and many, many women before her, had experienced. I went into this novel with only a vague idea of Vanessa's story. I came out of it shaken, weak, and entirely drained, as if the very pages had taken me for every ounce of emotion I had. This is a book unlike any other I've read. It moved mountains within me, and shook me to my core. The only thing I'm sure of, is that I didn't come out of this book unscathed.In 'My Dark Vanessa', readers are witness to the development of a disturbing relationship between student and teacher. An almost thirty-year age-gap between them, Vanessa is just fifteen-years-old when she attends her first American Literature class, with forty-two-year old teacher, Jacob Strane. It is in this classroom where something dangerous and depraved is discovered, and this something goes on to contaminate every part of Vanessa and her life as the years pass by.Russell chooses to take the reader back and forth between the past and the present in this novel, thus providing an insight into the beginning of Vanessa's time in Strane's classroom, but also a look at Vanessa now, as an adult. I feel this is the best possible way for the author to tell Vanessa's story. In order for readers to truly understand, I feel it's only right for Russell to take us back to the very start and lead us onwards from there. It opens Vanessa's world up to us in a way that allows no secrets, and we are witness to Vanessa's development as the plot progresses. In the present day, Strane is under scrutiny as claims are surfacing from another woman, who, like Vanessa, is a previous student. Taking social media by storm, Vanessa can only watch as the man she believed she loved, and who she believed loved her back, is accused of the very thing she experienced herself, but by someone else.This is an extraordinary take on an incredibly sensitive and taboo topic. It's no secret that Russell is a beautiful writer, and in this instance, heart-breakingly so. Her descriptions are so powerful, they only intensify the discomfort felt throughout. The author truly captures the sheer emotional turmoil felt by Vanessa as she looks back at the time she spent with Strane, and the things she thought she knew. This is not an easy book to read. There are many scenes I found unbearable, and I'm certain that if you've read this book too, then you'll know instantly the scenes I'm referring to without me having to say anything else. It's an eye-opening, frightening & gut-wrenching story, and I'm still reeling now. It's one of those I feel you really need to let settle in your mind, because there is just so much to consider while reading it. Vanessa's story evokes anger, fear, confusion and disgust, but on the other side of that, sadness, heartache and grief for a girl who thought she was adored when it was something else entirely. Russell brings forth many, many matters that we are only too aware of in our society today, which I think make this novel all the more compelling.'My Dark Vanessa' is a stand-out, thought-provoking and deeply disturbing novel, there's no doubt about it. I found it impossible to put down and even long after I finished reading it, it continued to brew in my mind and pull up numerous questions and considerations. Even now I'm thinking about Vanessa Wye, fictional or not. She is a character who will stay with me for a long, long time. This novel is receiving a five out of five rating from me. I can't wrap my head around this being a debut. It was phenomenal, truly.

This book has had such hype and great reviews that I couldn’t let it pass me by, although not really knowing what I was entering into, I had pretty high expectations.The main character is fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye and we hear in her own words about her relationship with her forty-five-year-old English teacher, Jacob Strane. We follow Vanessa both as a teenager and as an adult and in both timelines she is under Strane’s spell and believes that they had a great love affair, rather than an abusive and unbalanced relationship. As allegations against Strane from other female students appear, Vanessa is forced to reconsider what happened to her and all her relationships since.The characters in this book are not likeable but the writing is good. I did think that the book was longer than it needed to be, there are a lot of scenes with Vanessa’s therapist and also with her settling into new schools that seemed to drag on. It was clever and sad to show the long-term effects of the abuse that Vanessa suffered, her relationships, her career, her sexuality and her sexual fantasies were all called into question and what happened to her really affected everything she did in her life, so much so that at one point she had no memories before she met Strane.There is no question that ‘My Dark Vanessa’ is uncomfortable, disturbing and harrowing but it is also powerful, thought-provoking and compelling. As probably expected, there are a number of graphic, nauseating and unsettling scenes in a physical, emotional and mental way. The manipulation and twisting of thoughts and words is really, really scary. The way that Strane ‘groomed’ Vanessa was horrific, heartbreaking and eye opening at the same time.The author's descriptions are powerful and the discomfort felt by the reader intensifies throughout the book. This book will take some time to digest, I have read ‘Lolita’ and I remember feeling similar things when finishing that book. This is an amazing and powerful debut book.

Tudo, recomendo!

Llegó en excelentes condiciones, nada maltratado y con su plástico. Bastante rápido de igual forma. Me muero por leerlo🤍

“When we’re together … it feels as though the dark things inside me rise to the surface and brush against the dark things inside you.”Trigger Warning: SA; Pedophilia, SuicideIn the year 2000, Vanessa Wye is a 15 year old girl attending a private, boarding high school. She engages in a relationship with her 42 year old teacher, Jacob Strane. Now it’s the year 2017 and Strane is being accused of sexual assault by another girl and asking Vanessa to come forward and tell her story. Vanessa grapples with the decision to remain silent or tell her version of the events that occurred. Vanessa never viewed herself as a victim, but as a willing participant. Is the man that transformed her and stayed in her life really the monster everyone is making him out to be?I don’t even know where to begin my review of this book. It is captivating, compelling, dark, disturbing, indulging, mind blowing, and all the other descriptive words that I cannot come up with right now that says this book is amazing.This book is told in alternating timelines, the years when Vanessa is young, and when she is older. Russell really pulled me back into my teenage years and remember what it was like to be a 15 year old girl. The writing is done so well that I felt every little thing that Vanessa felt, her love, her disgust, her yearning, her indecisiveness, her sadness, and her struggle. I absolutely understood why Vanessa didn’t feel like a victim. While mentally, I know it is wrong for a 42 year old and a 15 year old to be in a sexual relationship, getting inside Vanessa’s head and heart made me emotionally not always believe it.This takes place during the height of the #MeToo movement, and this book really needs to be read by everyone. It explains why some girls come forward, and some don’t; it explains a bit about the point of view of some the girls/women that are involved with predators.This is not an easy book to read, but it should be read. A great debut novel by Russell; I can’t wait to read her next book.

The book itself arrived fine, I like the cover. The story made me feel disgusted by men even more. And the fact that I could relate to Vanessa sometimes made me realise I might need to seek help.

Une édition de qualité pour un roman bouleversant que je recommande...pas à tout le monde...mais que je recommande quand même.