Review: It must have taken a lot of soul searching to write this....
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 25, 2012
Not easy to read from an emotional point of view. The pedophile Mr Ropeman would have picked Simon because he knew he would be less likely to say anything due to Simons personal background. Pedophiles are very clever at what they do they groom and instill a sense of blame and guilt in their victims, which lasts for years to come. Although the writer thinks he has come to terms with his past, to me it seemed as if he still has a way to travel yet. Sometimes closure can only be found when you confront the nightmare, saying that I hope Simon is getting some help for his inner demons. I think the most poignant sentence he wrote was when he himself questioned whether his actions were due to the abuse he endured or whether he was just a bully. This is where I  also seperate the issue of sexual abuse of Simon and Simons physical/verbal abuse of his loved ones. Anger and not being able to control it is one thing, whether that anger is caused by someone/something else is irrelevant. Having it inside you like a festering wound is a state, which many of us can reconcile with. Lashing out in anger and not controlling it, that is something many people will not accept readily. So I think Simon needs to recognise those two parts of his identity as seperate and learn to deal with/reflct on them seperately. That also means accepting that he is also an abuser de facto and will one day have to help the person/persons he abused physically come to terms with that.I commend him for having the strength to write it all down and see it on paper/e-ink whilst having to visualise it once more in his head.