I was really disappointed in this book. I don't really know how to put what I am feeling about it into words. I think this book was too all over the place and it seems like the author still hasn't came to terms with what happened to her. Also I was confused because to me it seems like her grandfather molested her but she never really comes out and admits it, it is just assumed. And she keeps saying her sister got raped but I thought that she begged him not too and he didn't? I don't even know. I feel like so much could have been let out of the book because it didn't pertain to her actual story and it took away from the severity of the situation. Like what exactly is this book about? Her rape? Soldiers and their PTSD or terrorism? Who knows. I wish that the story was just about her rape and her trying to comes to terms with it and finding the perpetrator. I did enjoy that there was different accounts from some of the other victims. And that's about all I have to say. Not sure if I would recommend this read to anyone or not. The memoir Denial written by Jessica Stern features Jessica looking back into a terrifying piece of her past. Jessica tells the reader exactly what she is looking into, and why. We are informed that when she was younger, she and her sister were both raped. As police enforcements tell her, they think that her case may be related to some others, and she is asked to look back into it. Looking through it, she is inspired to write a memoir of her time doing this. Throughout the Novel, lots of new information is presented to the reader. We discover new things about the rapist; who he is, what he did in his life. Jessica even goes so far as to finding some of his friends, and his ex-lover. However, the rapist is not the only person we find out a lot about. Jessica interviews her father at one point in the book, and she does an excellent job of portraying his personality through the words and pages of her book. A huge theme of the book is fear. Or rather denial of that fear. The importance of interviewing her father comes from her curiosity of how he deals with fear, what fearful things he lived through in his life and how he dealt with that. It was really interesting reading through his past as well as the authors.I found the book really interesting, but I can't say it was one of my favorite reads ever. I gave this book three stars, because though it was good and a nice read, it had a hard time grabbing and keeping my attention as the reader. I would recommend this novel to one of my friends if they had asked, but I would definitely warn them that sometimes the details became quite graphic, and to make sure that is something they would be able to deal with.
What do You think about Ontkenning (2010)?
Honest and daring. Fear and denial are what drives dysfunction...
—hrishikesh
Unique perspective on the effects of trauma.
—mariannedelfierro
