Review: How the courage to express with honesty and elegance redeems cruel reality.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 4, 2014
One of the most important criteria of good writing, maybe the most important, is that it is real and conveys the truth in a compelling way.  This is true of poetry and non-fiction, and both of these literary genres are at work in Vanessa de Largie's "Don't Hit Me!"What is unique about this riveting non-fiction description of domestic abuse is that it is written in poetic form to describe the direct experience of Vanessa de Largie.  In fact, this book came undisguised from the author's diary!  There is no other example in the literature of domestic violence that expresses so immediately and compellingly the direct experience of the psyche of the abuse victim in the moments she is under attack.  There is no attempt to put a chronology or neat, tidy narrative to the author's appalling experience at the hands of her abusive partner from 2001 to 2003.  That is what makes the language so real and vital.Yet it is ultimately a story of redemption because Vanessa de Largie not only survived this cruel abuse, she was made stronger by it.  She has continued to develop and thrive since the abuse as an award-winning actress and best-selling author.So if you want to come as close as possible to what it feels like to be abused, you should buy "Don't Hit Me!"  Reading the book is a way of coming to a direct understanding of the experience of being bullied and abused by someone.  You will be made stronger by reading it.  I highly recommend this book for its honesty, its unique approach to the painful subject of domestic violence, and its poetic power.Raymond Keen - Retired school psychologist and author of "Love Poems for Cannibals"