Review: "My Dark Vanessa" by Kate Elizabeth Russell

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

March 10, 2020 release date

“Strane shakes his head and says for the millionth time that I assigned too much significance to that novel. ‘We need to get you a new favorite book,’ he says” (158-159).

My Dark Vanessa is the new Lolita that acknowledges its place next to the canonical text of forbidden interaction between middle aged man and nymphet. Russell tells the story of Vanessa Wye, a fifteen-year-old boarding school student who becomes involved with her English teacher, Jacob Strane. The narrative flips between memories of Vanessa’s relationship beginning in 2006 with her present-day reality in 2017, in the time of sexual assault exposures. In present day, Strane is being outed by another student he assaulted when she was just fourteen.

Vanessa struggles with the emotional complexity of abuse disguised as seduction. She rationalizes Strane’s actions and relays her past with him as if it were normal. Russell has done such an intricate, amazing job of portraying the levels of emotional complexity involved in surviving abuse and rationalizing it to oneself. The reader can interact with certain scenes and know that Vanessa was not a willing participant, but she tells herself that she was. Russell nails what it’s like to live after abuse.

This is a novel aware of the gap it bridges between classic narrative story and the social times we live in of the #metoo movement and the victim and perpetrator language dynamic of our modern discussions of the age gap and consent. Russell’s ability to make the reader feel disgusted with the content of the text while also compelled to continue on is a talent. Subject matter this novel addresses is difficult to explore with multiple dimensions. It can become overwrought, too tough to read, or pornographic. Russell balances creating the scenario for the reader with the complex feelings our narrator experiences with her relationship.

The novel is based in moral relativity and concerning the reader with what is right and wrong rather than the actual details of the assault. There are certainly graphic scenes of assault, including sexual assault, but Russell never commodifies these acts. She creates a narrative that feels truthful to many survivors and their experiences.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love Nabokov’s Lolita, and this novel was no different. This is an updated version of the classic that will have you shedding tears and gripping the novel tightly, begging for it to go any other way. I read this in one day, in two separate sittings, only because I had to go to work. I consumed this novel fully and would recommend it to any and everyone. I think this is the novel we’ve been waiting for as a society. Vanessa’s plight must be discussed out in the open for any action to be taken. Stomaching the uncomfortability of the some of the scenes is necessary for the audience to open their eyes.

5/5 stars