Denial: A Memoir of Terror
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- ISBN13: 9780061626654
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Product Description
“I have listened and I have been silent all my life. But now I will speak.”
One of the world’s foremost experts on terrorism and post-traumatic stress disorder investigates her own unsolved adolescent sexual assault at the hands of a serial rapist, and in so doing, examines the horrors of trauma and denial.
Alone in an unlocked house in a safe neighborhood in the suburban town of Concord, Massachusetts, two excellent, obedient girls, Jessica Stern, fifteen, and her sister, fourteen, were raped on the night of October 1, 1973. The girls had just come back from ballet lessons and were doing their homework when a weird man armed with a gun entered their home. Afterward, when they reported the crime, the police were skeptical.
The rapist was never caught. For over thirty years, Stern denied the pain and the trauma of the assault. Following the example of her family tree, Stern—who lost her mother at the age of three, and whose father was a Holocaust survivor—all ears on her work as a replacement for of her terror. She became a world-class practiced on terrorism, a lauded literary and writer who interviewed terrorists around the globe. But while her career took off, her success hinged on her symptoms. After her suffering she could not feel dread in normally frightening situations.
Stern believed she’d disassociated from the trauma altogether, until a devoted police lieutenant reopened the sisters’ rape case and brought her back to that upsetting night more than three decades past. With the help of the lieutenant, Stern started her own investigation—bringing to bear all her skills as a researcher—to uncover the truth about the town of Concord, her family tree, and her own mind. The result is Denial, a candid, courageous, and ultimately hopeful look at a trauma and its aftermath.
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This is a upsetting tale of rape, but the leader draws such a harsh portrait of herself, that it detracts momentously from the book.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
The leader and her sister were raped when they were 14 and 15, they lost their mother when they were toddlers, their father fled Nazi persecution, and they were left with their sadistic grandfather far too regularly. These are facts that led to their Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Stern’s account is disgustingly accurate. She never blinks. Nothing and no one is spared. This makes her account the best I’ve read. Her career prior to writing this book was profiling terrorists, what they do, why and how. She’s looked at both the victims and the perpetrators. Her voice is so unnervingly private that she’s able to share each baby step of her healing. She also makes the point that PTSD is not something you fix in yourself. It’s something you work around or, even better, transcend. Transcend in the sense that you step into your spiritual self.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Jessica Stern has been studying the causes of violence for the past two decades. She regularly wondered why she could study such a horrid theme lacking being affected in some way. Perhaps it is due to that one event that forever changed her life, the night of October 1, 1973.
Jessica was just fifteen years ancient, her sister just a year younger, when they were raped. When they reported it to the police they weren’t taken seriously. The police believed they knew their attacker and were too worried or ashamed to admit to it.
“The tale turned out to be much larger than the rape of two girls. It seemed as if the entire community was in denial. The police had not properly investigated the crime. They gave up quickly…rape at gunpoint was unimaginable in Concord, Massachusetts in 1973. Denial, I would learn, is immensely seductive. It is irresistible for bystanders who want to get on with their lives. In the moment of terror, denial and dissociation are life-preserving for the victim…in this case, the denial of our community resulted in many additional child rapes-at least forty-four-and the suicide of at least one of the victims.”
All these years later, Jessica does what the police didn’t do at the time, she reads the police reports, investigates her own unsolved rape and uncovers years of buried trauma and denial. With the help of a local police Lieutenant, Jessica was able to learn the identity of her rapist, a man who raped at least forty-four girls in Massachusetts in a three year time-frame in the early 1970s. Sorry to say, this man, Brian Beat, killed himself years before Jessica started her investigation
Denial: A Memoir of Terror is a very intimate look at one victim’s search for knowledge, for truth. Jessica doesn’t hold anything back, each detail of that horrendous crime is clearly laid out. It is for this reason I say it’s hard to delight in reading a book on this topic, but I certainly reflect I gained a lot by reading it. As a criminal justice/psych major, I too was interested in learning more about what causes crime and violence. I learned a lot about the criminal but never very much about the victim. It was appealing to read about how one event, granted one very huge life-altering event, could forever change the life of one young girl. The way she behaved, the occupation she chose, all were in response to this attack. I was up in arms to learn just how many rapes could have been prevented had the police investigated more, had the town wiped away the take in of denial.
I wouldn’t recommend this book to everyone due to its theme matter. But, I do reflect it is an vital book to read. It’s not only a book about a rape, but one about self-discovery and awareness. If I had to mention one thing I didn’t like it would have to be the repetitiveness. Some scenes, thoughts, etc. were relayed over and over again. Perhaps this was in an attempt to drive that particular thought or action home, but as a replacement for I establish myself skimming these parts, skipping yet to be in the book. That said, this only occurred a few times, it certainly didn’t take away from the impact this book had on me. Highly recommended.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
Something terrible happened to an innocent girl from a very weird but high achieving family tree, and the interest level is maintained at a high pitch throughout. An extremely well-told blend of mystery and human drama, with a no-holds barred account of adolescent sexual trauma and its aftermath. In essence, this book falls into the “right crime” detective genre, but qualifies as literary, introspective and intelligent as well. My only complaint (which I’ve voiced many times in reviews of additional autobiogrpahies) is the absence of personal photographs. Nonetheless, highly recommended.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Why is this book so powerful?
1.The tale line itself is mesmerizing
2.Writing style and tale organization are cunning
3.The basic approach is that of”ground truths” which is based on interest in exploration of tales as they unfold rather then library search or additional people’s research.
4 The narrator goes through an exploration process of herself,her past trauma( holocaust(second generation),death of a mother, abandonment by a stepmother and rape all through childhood and early teen age years). But ,she doesn’t stay in her home to do soul searching,rather she goes to any part to engage in dialogues with many who can help get deeper and know better. The reader joins the journey,captivated.
5 A strong message is that exploration with others is powerful anti bring shame on measure.
6 The exploration of her relationship with her father is cruelly honest and teaches the power of the dialogue.
7 It is tough to place the book down. it makes one hopeful that many will read it and be inspired by the leader’s insights,courage and knowledge,
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5