I requested Dear Medusa by Olivia A. Cole for two reasons. One reason is that I have a morbid fascination with stories about survivors of sexual abuse. Mostly, I requested an e-galley because I needed to read something written in verse for one of my year-long reading challenges. While I read one book in verse many years ago, I am not a fan of poetry and actively avoid it. So, I started Ms. Cole's novel in verse with trepidation. Thankfully, I loved every line.

As you might suspect, the subject matter of Dear Medusa is not easy, but I believe telling her story in verse helps ease some of the potential for triggers. The poem form of the novel means that Ms. Cole has to select her focus with care, and in Dear Medusa, she opts for emotion over action. Alicia is suffering, and not just from what was done to her by a beloved teacher a year ago. Her pain is palpable, as is her anger, longing, desperation, confusion, and self-loathing. She has no support network and is so alone that it hurts. Ms. Cole conveys all this in clear, concise lines that don't portray the actions as much as the occurring emotions or thought processes. 

There is so much happening to Alicia. She sees herself as a pariah among her peers, tainted by her willingness to have sex and shamefully bearing the burden of being labeled the school slut. Then, there is the apparent trauma she still suffers after the abuse she suffered at the hands of a teacher. Her parents recently divorced, and her relationship with her brother is nowhere near as close as it once was. But the absolute worst thing you have to watch Alicia struggle with is her self-loathing, as seen in her willingness to make herself available to men who do not care about her age but only see her as a piece of meat willing to do whatever they want. 

No matter what age you are when you read Dear Medusa, Ms. Cole's verse helps you remember how confusing it was to be a teenager. On the one hand, you are proud of your new, post-pubescent, more womanly body and want others to find you as attractive as you think you are. Yet, you find yourself getting attention from the wrong people or the wrong type of attention. Dear Medusa took me back to places I didn't want to go, remembering situations I don't want to remember and scenarios I experienced that look very different through a perspective lens. Younger readers will see themselves in Alicia, working through their confusion at the mixed messaging society continues to give young people identifying as women.

Dear Medusa is powerful in so many ways. Every page has at least one passage I want to remember, even though I do not typically collect quotes from books I read. The verse is so beautiful in its simplicity. Alicia is full of pain, and Ms. Cole ensures we feel every nuance. Dear Medusa is a novel I am so glad I took a chance to read because it will stay with me for a long time.