INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“[An] exceedingly complex, inventive, resourceful examination of harm and power.” —The New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice
“A lightning rod . . . brilliantly crafted.”—The Washington Post
A most anticipated book by The New York Times • USA Today • Entertainment Weekly • Marie Claire • Elle • Harper’s Bazaar • Bustle • Newsweek • New York Post • … anticipated book by The New York Times • USA Today • Entertainment Weekly • Marie Claire • Elle • Harper’s Bazaar • Bustle • Newsweek • New York Post • Esquire • Real Simple • The Sunday Times • The Guardian
Exploring the psychological dynamics of the relationship between a precocious yet naïve teenage girl and her magnetic and manipulative teacher, a brilliant, all-consuming read that marks the explosive debut of an extraordinary new writer.
2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher.
2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who fundamentally transformed her and has been a persistent presence in her life? Is it possible that the man she loved as a teenager—and who professed to worship only her—may be far different from what she has always believed?
Alternating between Vanessa’s present and her past, My Dark Vanessa juxtaposes memory and trauma with the breathless excitement of a teenage girl discovering the power her own body can wield. Thought-provoking and impossible to put down, this is a masterful portrayal of troubled adolescence and its repercussions that raises vital questions about agency, consent, complicity, and victimhood. Written with the haunting intimacy of The Girls and the creeping intensity of Room, My Dark Vanessa is an era-defining novel that brilliantly captures and reflects the shifting cultural mores transforming our relationships and society itself.
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Wow! Dark and intensely compelling, this is a page-turner with strikingly real characters and no easy answers.
This book clearly isn’t going to be for everyone. But for those who can look into the shadows and still see light. This is story that you will never forget…
There has been so much talk about how good this book is. It is well written, but the subject matter was a little upsetting to me. I guess that’s what makes it a good book.
Well worth reading for the complex narrator.
It was an eye opener on many levels.
This book broke my heart! Kate Elizabeth Russell did an amazing job in putting this story line together. I really don’t want to give anything away, but I have to say that once a person has suffered abuse repeatedly, that person starts to blame herself rather than the abuser. Very well written.
A fascinating, thought-provoking, well-constructed novel about the victim of a prep school teacher who spends most of the book feeling she wasn’t a victim at all, because she wanted it. She has to overcome a lot of damage and the perfidy of the school and others to overcome her own flawed but understandable take on the situation. This is fiction that will make you examine your understanding and adjust it, and I’m all for that. It’s also a good read. Highly recommended.
I enjoyed this book a lot. It was thought provoking and realistic, because I have see and heard these same types of stories from so many women. It appears they talk themselves out of believing these types of relationships are unhealthy, simply because they didn’t want to break-up with their predator.
Brutally honest writing that was both difficult to read and hard to put down.
A thought provoking read that examines the life of 15 year old Vanessa Wye and her relationship with her older teacher. The story juxtaposes her past as a teenager and her present as a young adult and the effects that relationship has on her and those around her. Was she abused? Was it consensual? Was she a victim? Was she the instigator? These are the questions she must grapple with.
A little longer than it needed to be, but beautifully written with flawed, yet compelling characters.
Didn’t read very much of it. As it got into a child writing to a teacher to be seduced, I was turned off.
I didn’t care for the subject matter.
Extremely well-written and extremely uncomfortable to read. Some of the scenes will stick in your head for a long time. That said, the author does an amazing job of portraying Vanessa’s dysfunction. While the past is told through her filtered lens, the reader can still see what really happened. The #MeToo discussion is really only a small part of the story. What the book is really about is grooming and the aftermath of pedophilia.
I’m recommending it because it’s skillfully done, but with warnings that it is not for the easily triggered. Parts of this book are incredibly disturbing (and should be).
This one will stay with me for a long time, and for me, that’s the mark of a powerful novel. This wasn’t an easy read, but it was well worth the time.
This isn’t a book I would usually choose, the topic I find hard to read, but I forced myself to do it as I felt by not doing I was somehow doing Vanessa an injustice. Which shows that the author manages to make the character likeable, maybe even relatable. You can see how somebody could end up in the position she did.
How easy it happens. Which makes it terrifying.
I read some reviews that mentioned they found it a bit crude, but I personally felt the descriptions of the abuse she suffered Vague, yet detailed enough to know exactly what happened, without actually reading the full details of it.
It’s More about the emotional abuse, and how tortured her mind is, for years after, she still suffers, like many do.
At the end of the book I felt like I wanted to know more….I want to know what happened next and that Vanessa continued to grow and get better.
This story stayed with me for long time. Tough to read at times, but beautifully written. Russell is a natural storyteller.
At first glance, I assumed this book would be the usual story of the abuse being all blamed on the adult and the struggles of the child to find a way out of the depths and despair of being abused to the “light”.
Then I realised how different this goes to the abused going along with the abuser and the extent of how a life can be affected by being “groomed” – the dependency leading to alcohol and drugs.
Vanessa,a young impressionable 15 year old with a crush on her 42 year old English teacher who has all the right words, and how it begins flattery, a brush of the knee, a look with a well placed compliment…
This is an interesting read and to realise that this exists in our society , whether it be a teacher, youth leader etc, definitely an eye opener.
Where to start! This is a dark story of a 45 yr old teacher grooming a 15 year old student and how his dysfunction and Sickness rebounds in her life for years. It was hard to read at times especially when he was seducing her and playing games with her head. It’s a sad story of redemption
Made my skin crawl…rings true in the most heartbreaking ways.
This is a distressing story about Vanessa, a 15-year old high school student who has an affair with her much older English teacher, Jacob Strane. The affair is told in great detail from Vanessa’s point of view. The reader sees how Vanessa is manipulated—even as she cannot quite see it, telling herself that their relationship is a classic “love story”, like Lolita. It continues for many years, with starts and stops as Vanessa ages. It’s only when other, younger female students come forward with accusations that Vanessa rethinks the entire relationship and discloses it to her therapist. She slowly comes to realize that perhaps their relationship wasn’t the great love story she’d convinced herself it was. You see how the affair shades and damages everything that happens in Vanessa’s life for many years afterward. I probably shouldn’t have read this right now during the pandemic, because it’s an upsetting read…but still, it’s an important story and I’m glad I dove into it.