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bookgazing ([personal profile] bookgazing) wrote2011-01-28 07:22 am

The Indie Lit Awards & 'Scars' - Cheryl Rainfield

Ok so I’m going to do something a little different for reviews of books I read for the Indie Lit Awards GLBTQ category. As much as I talk about writing balanced reviews (and I really do think I try hard to highlight the things that I found negative and positive about a book) I think it’s usually obvious whether I had a good time reading a book, or not. I’m also still struggling with how to make people understand the difference between what villanegativa called my critical good fairy and truly negative points of dislike (I have an idea, but haven’t put it into practise yet). I don’t want to make it too obvious which of the shortlist books I’m personally keen or not keen on, but I do still want to talk a little about these books.

So I’m going to do mini posts, which will include a plot synopsis, just one specific thing that I liked about each book and one that I didn’t and a discussion question (I never do this, let me know if you like it). Hopefully this will give everyone a bit of a flavour of the books without giving away too much about how I’m ranking the books in my judging brain. There are some books where I wish I could talk more about them, but I’ll try to hold myself in check.

First for this treatment is ‘Scars’ by Cheryl Rainfield.

Scars’ – Cheryl Rainfield

Kendra attends therapy to try to help her through memories of being sexually abused when she was very young. While therapy helps immensely and gives Kendra a figure she can turn to in Caroline her therapist, Kendra needs to use other tactics to cope when she’s not at a session. She paints and draws, but she also cuts and she hides both coping mechanism from those around her.


Kendra meets a girl called Meghan at school and they begin to become friends, then become a couple. Kendra receives a lot of positive validation from Meghan, Caroline and her neighbour and his boyfriend. However, other people like Kendra’s mother seem unable to grasp that she needs support and Kendra’s rapist has begun sending her signs telling her he’ll kill her if she reveals his identity. Kendra doesn’t remember who raped her and she doesn’t want to access the memories, but as her life become more uncontrollable and volatile she’s drawn towards more and more memories.

One thing I liked

I thought the clues to who Kendra’s rapist was were scattered through the book in a really consistent, but subtle way. Rainfeld leaves readers with a chance to guess his identity if they know basic things about real sexual abuse, but she doesn’t overload her readers with sharp pokes and suggestive winks.

One thing I didn't like

The dialogue in this book is often clichéd and feels unconnected from any real emotion. I could go into a lot of interconnecting stuff leading off from the dialogue, but I’m going to stick to my own rules and just mention that one thing.

Question

During an art therapy session Kendra thinks 'How a painting looks is what communicates the feeling' when her art therapy teacher tells her to concentrate on expressing herself rather than creating something 'artistically pleasing'. What do you think communicates the feeling in art - form and technique, raw emotion in the piece, a bit of both, or something else?

Any opinion mentioned here is my opinion and not the opinion of the whole panel, or the organisers of the Indie Lit Awards.