Review: Raw, but beautiful
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 11, 2014
The story told here is one of pain and redemption, loss and love, destruction and resurrection. Allen is a young woman who suffers nearly unimaginable devastation at the cruel hands of a group of men. We are not privy to all the exact details of her attack, for which I am grateful. The hints we do get are enough to make me shudder in horror. Now, long after, Allyn remains trapped by the horror  inflicted upon her, unable to live her life, even to the point of never leaving her house. It is the ministrations of a knowledgeable psychiatrist who is finally able to reach her, with infinite patience and understanding, but also a ruthless will to bring her back to life. It is a journey fraught with pain and tears, yet the vision of this broken soul reaching desperately for a whisper of existence, is a thing of beauty.I enjoyed this book, and the travails of its characters. That being said...(spoiler alert!):I feel that true love was achieved a bit too easily and quickly. I very much felt that the ending was a convenient coincidence of absurd proportions. It would have been a much more effective story, if less satisfying, for the perpetrators to go uncaught, and unknown, just as in real life , so much of the time.However, the emotional and psychological journey of the two main characters was extraordinary, and well written. I must read more by this author!