My Dark Vanessa

Content warnings for this novel: sexual assault, rape, taking advantage of a minor, trauma, victim-blaming, gaslighting, bullying, depression

Making sense of my feelings towards this book is not an easy task. I was so close to putting it down, because the content is so disgusting and uncomfortable. But I stuck through it. 

I really respect authors with the ability to tastefully and gracefully write about difficult or taboo topics. And this book certainly applies. My Dark Vanessa is about teacher-student romances, pedophilia, the Me Too movement, trauma, and so much more. 

Vanessa Wye, a fifteen-year-old sophomore attending the prestigious Browick boarding school, becomes smitten with English teacher Jacob Strain. And soon enough, Strain takes advantage of Vanessa’s crush by pursuing her romantically. You can guess what happens.

The use of separate timelines was a key literary tool for this story. We learn about the affair between Vanessa and Strain in the year 2000, and we also read Vanessa’s perspective in 2017, when Strain is dealing with sexual assault accusations. And yet, Vanessa still defends him, convinced that Strain was always in love with her.

 That’s what the book is about. It’s hard for me to give thoughts on this topic. The resolution is not necessarily what I would have liked if this were a real world situation (which there are definitely similar stories), but it makes for a good novel. I’m in the camp that happy endings are overrated in books. Bring on the sad endings, because the oversaturation of happy endings gets old. But with this topic, it’s hard to grapple, because it’s so applicable to real world events.