👶👶👶👶 Tiger, Tiger, by Margaux Fragoso

This was a truly disturbing, stomach-churning, and yet eye-opening, memoir. It's hard for me to rate a book about something so disgusting as a pedophile, with 4 stars, but Fragoso (despite her horrific childhood), has become a talented writer in spite of it all. I did have a hard time believing that she could recall so many childhood events with such vivid detail, but at the same time, her prose allows the reader to paint a picture of how such a crime could unfold. I also hoped for more insight on her healing: how was she able to put aside her tragic youth, continue on with her life, and begin her own family, etc...? There is little mention of feelings expressed throughout the book, but perhaps dissociation is part of her coping mechanism. I did respect her for being raw and unfiltered, honest and unabashed, but I struggled with her apparent attempt to humanize her perpetrator - am I too presumptuous to assume that perhaps this is a form of Stockholm Syndrome? Finally, it was sad and repulsive that not even one adult in her life put a stop to this, despite all the red flags. There were important truths in this book -a cautionary story worth reading- but I personally was only able to read it in short snippets because of the content.

Read 10/12