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A review by kassiereadsbooks
The Comeback by Ella Berman
5.0
4.5
"Whether I say the words today or at the IFAs, I will never be anything other than Able's victim. He will still own me, just in a different way, and I would never move on from my past because it would be all anyone saw when they looked at me."
TW for just about everything: drug abuse, alcohol abuse, child molestation, sexual assault, disordered eating, mentions of conversion therapy
Long story short: I loved this book. The Comeback is a descent into the psyche of Grace Hyde, formerly Grace Turner, who is grappling with years of sexual trauma from liberal Hollywood (and the world's) favorite indie director. It's been marketed as a book for the "Me Too" era, and that description felt oversimplified and turned me off so I'm glad I picked it up anyway. The Comeback is pretty masterful in its ability to run through the circles of PTSD and is a hardened and honest look at what happens to survivors of deep power imbalance.
This is a debut novel and I'm definitely reading whatever else Ella Berman puts into the world.
(Diversity take: many of the B characters are LGBT and I felt the entire novel handled queer representation well, but I don't recall a single character of color.)
"Whether I say the words today or at the IFAs, I will never be anything other than Able's victim. He will still own me, just in a different way, and I would never move on from my past because it would be all anyone saw when they looked at me."
TW for just about everything: drug abuse, alcohol abuse, child molestation, sexual assault, disordered eating, mentions of conversion therapy
Long story short: I loved this book. The Comeback is a descent into the psyche of Grace Hyde, formerly Grace Turner, who is grappling with years of sexual trauma from liberal Hollywood (and the world's) favorite indie director. It's been marketed as a book for the "Me Too" era, and that description felt oversimplified and turned me off so I'm glad I picked it up anyway. The Comeback is pretty masterful in its ability to run through the circles of PTSD and is a hardened and honest look at what happens to survivors of deep power imbalance.
This is a debut novel and I'm definitely reading whatever else Ella Berman puts into the world.
(Diversity take: many of the B characters are LGBT and I felt the entire novel handled queer representation well, but I don't recall a single character of color.)