Elissa
First of all, I mean no disrespect to the sisters who endured the horrors detailed within the pages of If You Tell. I spent most of this book viscerally disgusted by the fact that a human being could do any of this to other human beings, let alone her own daughters. I feel for them; the trauma they suffered should not be minimized, and their stories should be told, so long as they wish it.
I will give credit to Olsen where credit is due: this is an incredibly compelling story. However, the same cannot necessarily be said about the storytelling. The structure of the book puzzled me: it seemed linear, except when it wasn't. Too many of the approximately ninety chapters (no joke) largely seemed to restate facts that had already been covered, making the book a slog despite relatively easy reading. Olsen's frequent employment of line breaks for emphasis quickly became a pet peeve, as did his use of “at once” to juxtapose two essential synonyms (i.e.—and I'm paraphrasing, because I've already returned the book—”It was at once repulsive and disgusting”).
I only saw If You Tell through to the end because I had to know what happened next. Some people surely will—and do—love this book; ultimately, I was not one of them.
First of all, I mean no disrespect to the sisters who endured the horrors detailed within the pages of If You Tell. I spent most of this book viscerally disgusted by the fact that a human being could do any of this to other human beings, let alone her own daughters. I feel for them; the trauma they suffered should not be minimized, and their stories should be told, so long as they wish it.
I will give credit to Olsen where credit is due: this is an incredibly compelling story. However, the same cannot necessarily be said about the storytelling. The structure of the book puzzled me: it seemed linear, except when it wasn't. Too many of the approximately ninety chapters (no joke) largely seemed to restate facts that had already been covered, making the book a slog despite relatively easy reading. Olsen's frequent employment of line breaks for emphasis quickly became a pet peeve, as did his use of “at once” to juxtapose two essential synonyms (i.e.—and I'm paraphrasing, because I've already returned the book—”It was at once repulsive and disgusting”).
I only saw If You Tell through to the end because I had to know what happened next. Some people surely will—and do—love this book; ultimately, I was not one of them.