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Her father was supposed to be locked up until Meredith turned eighteen. She thought she had time to grow up, get out, and start a new life. But Meredith is only fifteen, and today her father is coming home from prison.
Today her time has run out.
When she's not writing, Laura Wiess can be found raising monarch butterflies, reading the tarot, feeding strays, and angsting over things she can't change. Originally from Milltown, New Jersey, she now lives in a very old farmhouse at the edge of the woods in the Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Chet, and a splendid assortment of rescued animals. Email Laura Wiess at laura@laurawiess.com or visit http://www.laurawiess.com for more information.
They promised me nine years of safety but only gave me three.
Today my time has run out.
I sit on the curb at the back of the parking lot near the Dumpster. The waste from the condo complex bakes in this cumbersome green kiln and the stench is shocking, heavy with rancid grease and sickly-sweet decay. The association's tried to beautify the Dumpster, painting the rusty sides a perky green and relettering the faded residents' use only sign, but the battered lid thwarts them, as it's warped from rough use and no longer seals the stewing fumes neatly in the box.
"Perfect," I mutter and take a drag off my cigarette. Blow a couple of smoke rings and tempt the crusading, condo cowboys to rush from their air-conditioned dens and snatch the forbidden smudge stick away.
But they won't. They keep their distance now, afraid my taint will rub off.
These adults who ache to interfere -- convinced their quality-of-life ordinances and PC patrolling make them a village-raising-a-child -- are the same people who picketed and wrote scathing letters to the editor to prevent my mother from renting a second condo in the front of the complex for my father's homecoming.
It didn't work, of course. My mother's attorney protected my father's rights and threatened to sue the complex owner if housing was denied. The owner caved, the condo was rented, and the neighbors were left reeling, hobbled by their own laws.
"I wish I could have found him a unit closer to ours, but this'll have to do for now," my mother had said earlier, spraying CK's Obsession along her neck and thighs. "And besides, it's only temporary until we can live like a family again." Her cheeks were pink, her voice breathy with anticipation. "He's really looking forward to it, Meredith. Being home with us, I mean. It's what's kept him going. I hope you can appreciate that."
I watched her and said nothing. Silence was the key to self-preservation.
"Now, where did I leave my...oh, there it is." She crossed to the bed, slipped off her robe, and smoothed the lace trim on her white La Perla panties. The matching bra was for show only, as she was almost flat on top. "And as far as this whole adjustment period thing goes...personally, I would have let you spend the weekend at your grandmother's like we'd planned so your father and I could have had a little time alone first, but that's not what he wanted." Frowning, she examined the delicate, rhinestone heart stitched onto the front of the panties. "Hmm. This better not make a bump under my dress. He wants us both here for him and I think that says a lot about forgiveness and a fresh start. We've all sacrificed, Meredith. I hope you understand that, too."
I studied my thumb. Bit off a hangnail. Dead skin, so no pain. Not bad.
"Just stay down, will you?" She poked at the glittery heart, not seeming to notice my lack of response. "Oh,
for...I don't have time for this. If it sticks up, I'll just have to cut it off." Impatient, she slid into her dress and presented me with her back so I could zip the new red mini. It was a size two from a Lord & Taylor window display she'd designed at the mall and probably not intended for a thirty-nine-year-old with a stranglehold on her fading youth. "Careful. This is silk."
I eased up the zipper and lingered, one knuckle brushing the warmth of her neck.
"Time, Meredith." She pulled away and shook her hair, poked her feet into scarlet mules, and smoothed the dress from hipbone to hipbone. "No lumps, no bumps. Perfect."
I wandered over to her bureau and recapped the cologne as my mother continued her nervous chatter.
"I used this same shade of red in the welcome home! banner, the flowers in the living room, and the new guest towels, you know. In decorating, you want to tie everything together to create the impression of continuous harmony. I put touches of color in your father's condo, too. I think he'll be pleased. Oh, and I took three steaks out to thaw so now is not the time to go into that silly vegetarian kick." She glanced my way and shook her head. "And please, put on something decent before we get back. This is a celebration, not a wake. No overalls and no more gray. I mean it. Try to look cheerful for a change." She skimmed on lipstick and glanced at her watch. "Time to run. Tonight's going to be wonderful!"
Wrong, I'd wanted to say as she swept out in a blur of red silk. Tonight is when the obscene becomes the acceptable.
My father has been gone for three years. Long enough for the town to finally stop shunning us and for his victims to get counseling. Long enough for me to lose one social worker to pregnancy and two more hollow-eyed, twitchy ones to career burnout. Long enough for my mother to have been granted a divorce, had she ever applied for one. But she hasn't. Nor has she ever stopped visiting him in the Big House.
Today will be her final pilgrimage, and thanks to Megan's Law, everyone in town knows it.
My father's release date was given to all the local cops, school administrators, and youth group leaders. They got handouts with his name, photo, physical description, the crimes for which he was convicted, his home address, and license plate. The law says they aren't allowed to share the info with anyone else, but of course they did -- who wouldn't? -- so now we're marked for life. His picture is even posted on the New Jersey Sex Offender Internet Registry.
My mother ignores it all; the hostile undercurrents, the whispers and disparaging looks, the grim disgust in my grandmother's face, and the dogged blankness in mine.
Sharon Shale, my mother, does not see what she doesn't want to see.
She never has.
And for the last three years, she hasn't wanted to see me. At least not in private, when no one else is watching. She's always half-turned away, ahead of or behind me, tossing out words without watching to gauge their effect, cluttering my wake with complaints of attitude, dirty dishes, or stray eyebrows plucked into the sink. She acts like my scars are on the outside and I'm too disturbing to look at head-on.
So I leave proof of my existence behind me like a snail trail with the small hope that years of talking at me will someday soften her enough to talk with me, that she'll finally pull the knife from my chest and say yes, we are better off without him. That what happened wasn't my fault and from now on she will thrust herself between me and danger, and shout NO.
Hands shaking, I fish a fresh cigarette from the front pocket of my bib overalls and try to light it off the old one. My chin trembles, the butts joust, and the burning head gets knocked off into the gutter at my feet.
I grind it out. Jab the unlit cigarette back into the pack.
Look up to see my mother's BMW pulling into the driveway.
A man sits shotgun.
My father.
Copyright © 2007 by Laura Battyanyi Wiess
Chapter TwoThe driver's door opens and my mother pops out. She looks around expectantly and spots me hunkered on the curb instead of hurtling toward them, whooping, "Welcome home, Daddy!" Annoyance crimps her smile. "Mere-dith," she calls, waving me closer. "Look who's here!" Her scarlet nails glow orange in the sunset. "Come say hello!"
I can't. Breathing hurts and I want to run. His head turns toward me and my gaze jumps away, fixes on the fists filling my pockets. I count the rigid knuckles lumped beneath the faded denim. Four is my safe number. Eight is double strength. I smell terror in my sudden sweat. Oh God, please don't let this happen.
"Meredith," my mother says again, and there's steel beneath the honey. "I'm talking to you. Come here and say hello to your father, please. Now."
It's the bitchy "now" that punctures my paralysis. Now he's here. Now she's happy. Now I'm supposed to act like nothing ever happened.
Anger saves me. I plant my palms on the curb and push myself up. Smooth my baggy overalls and black tank. Unhook my hair from behind my ears. The halves swing forward to curtain off all but my nose. My eyes burn and heat envelops my face.
The passenger door opens.
One sneakered foot is planted on the driveway. The other joins it.
The Nikes are blindingly new. Size twelve.
My mother has been shopping for him.
The jeans are also new. If I allow my gaze to travel higher -- which I won't -- I'll see the solid gold baseball charm on a chain that my mother gave him for his eighteenth birthday nestled in his coarse, whorled chest hair.
My front teeth throb as the memory of the charm bangs against them.
"Hello, Meredith."
The voice is quiet, kind, hoarse with history...and it destroys me. A sick, writhing knot of old love and despair lays me open worse than the first time and the force of it almost takes me down. I lock my knees, trying not to sway. This was not supposed to happen. I spent years steeling myself, reliving every rotten moment over and over again to make myself immune, hiding from nothing so there would be nothing hidden left to cripple me, and I thought I'd made it, but now, with one simple greeting, I've already lost.
"No, Daddy, no. Don't."
"Meredith," he says again, soft and almost pleading, a voice I know, a voice that sends the nausea churning in my stomach straight up into my throat.
I swallow hard and lift my chin in reply. It's all I can manage and more than he deserves.
"Well." My mother plants her hands on her hips, peevish. "Is that the best welcome you can come up with? Why don't you come over here and give your father a hug?"
Hug him? Touch him? How can she even suggest it?
"It's okay. Don't push her, Sharon." He slams the passenger door and stretches, glances around the ominously silent court. Blinds twitch and a shade goes down, but he doesn't seem to notice. "Nice place. Peaceful. We have the rest of our lives to get reacquainted. Right, Chirp?"
My head jerks up, the curtain of hair parts, and for one piercing moment the predator and the prey lock gazes.
He winks at me before turning to my mother. "Don't worry, she'll come around. Three years is a long time to be out of a kid's life."
Not long enough! I want to shout, but I am mute, rooted in place as my stomach cramps and my defenses stumble in dazed disorder. He found me so easily. Resurrected my old nickname and broke right through. Does he know it? I don't know. So far I've only given him silence and surprise, so maybe he isn't sure. I have to count on that, have to believe I still have a chance to survive this.
"Yes, it is," my mother says, shooting me an exasperated look and shouldering her purse. "Why don't we go in out of this heat, Charles? I have some steaks defrosting -- "
"No you don't." I come alive, reminded of my sabotage, and force myself up the lawn toward them. The grass is cool in the shade so I sit and make a show of removing my sandals. My feet are filthy from walking barefoot. I hitch up my pant leg and scratch my stubbly shin, making certain my father notes my horrible hygiene. I hate being dirty, but I know that he hates it more.
"Yes I do," my mother says, frowning. "I took three steaks out before I left."
"And I threw them away," I say, and nod at the Dumpster. "They smelled bad."
"What? All of them?" She is astonished. "Meredith, how could you?"
"They were rotten," I say with a careless shrug. "Probably loaded with E. coli, too. It's the stuff no one sees that does the most damage."
My father rubs his forehead, dulling the sweaty sheen above his brow.
"So you threw them away," my mother says, as if repeating it is the key to undoing it. "Sixty dollars' worth of steaks! How could they be rotten? I just bought them the other day!"
"Go smell for yourself," I say. "They're right on top."
She won't. He might, just to reassert his authority. I hope he does. The steaks are there, unwrapped and carefully laid out on top of a split garbage bag soggy with liquefied waste.
"Meredith, I don't...you know I...my God..." She's breathing hard, embarrassed and furious, caught between the harmonious, happy homecoming and letting me have it.
"Never mind, Shar," my father says, crossing around the front of the car and patting her back. His hand is awkward and although she turns from me and leans into him, he doesn't lean back. He worships youth. She chases it, but can never be young enough again. "I've been dreaming about Tony's pizzas for years. Come on, let's go order one."
Neither looks at me as they mount the front steps and fumble with the keys.
I stay where I am, silently counting the bricks in the steps and the cherry red geranium petals scattering the sidewalk beneath the urns flanking our porch. I count in lots of four, my gaze tracing corner-to-corner box shapes for each small group, and it isn't long before my heart slows and the trembling stops.
My parents will call Tony's and try to place a delivery order, but it'll be refused. Tony has caller ID and once he recognizes the last name, he'll say he doesn't deliver to our "area." He does, however, deliver to the rest of the complex. It's a daring discrimination, one that has earned my reluctant admiration.
My mother doesn't know Tony shuns us because she doesn't want to know.
But both she and my father are about to find out.
The good citizens of Estertown don't take kindly to child molesters or to the carrier families who deliberately host the virus and reinfect the community.
I glance across the court at the condo catty-cornered to my building.
Andy, who has ordered and received countless pizzas from Tony's for me, is sitting in his living room window. His bare chest gleams in the dying daylight. He shivers and lifts his bottle of Jim Beam in silent luck.
I nod because he sees, and knows.
Copyright © 2007 by Laura Battyanyi Wiess
1. Meredith frequently refers to numbers throughout the novel — how many tiles there are in the bathroom, the amount of multivitamins she takes, and four being her "safety number." Why does Meredith find such comfort in numbers?
2. Discuss the theme of paralysis in Such a Pretty Girl and how it applies to each character.
3. "Ms. Mues shields me just to thwart my father. She doesn't really care for me. She's a plotter, a planner and what better way to avenge her son than to destroy her enemy's daughter? To gain my trust and use me to achieve her goal, much like my father used Andy..." (page 73). Do you think this is true? What is Ms. Mues's motivation for moving into Meredith's neighborhood?
4. "Four is my best number, but there are four years between my parents too, and I would rather fall down dead than find out we're anything like them" (page 74). How is the relationship between Andy and Meredith different than the relationship between Meredith's parents? Do you think Meredith is repeating her mother's mistake?
5. "A victim soul is a pious individual chosen to absorb the suffering o f others" (page 86). Who do you think acts as the victim soul in this novel? Does this person accept his/her role willingly?
6. "Andy's demons chase him just as hard as yours chase you" (page 114). How are Andy and Meredith different in dealing with their mutual psychological scars?
7. What is the significance of each of the recurring images in the novel: the Dumpster, the gold baseball pendant, roses, and the statue of Mary.
8. Discuss the relationship between Sharon and Charles. Why does she stay with him despite everythinghe's done? Meredith believes her mother will always choose her husband over her daughter. Is this true? If so, why does she want Meredith to stay with them instead of with her grandmother?
9. "It's the stuff that no one sees that does the most damage" (page 10). Sight is another theme in Such a Pretty Girl. What does each character choose not to see and how does that hurt them?
10.What do you think Meredith's future will be like? Will she become the stereotype of abused children? Or will she become its exception?
READER TIPS1. Visit Laura Wiess's blog at http://gypsyrobin.livejournal.com.
2. Did this book inspire you to get involved in protecting your community? Go to www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/cac/states.htm to find information on sex offenders who might be living in your neighborhood.
3. Watch the documentary highly recommended by the author, Just Melvin: Just Evil.
Laura Wiess is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Such a Pretty Girl, chosen as one of the ALA's 2008 Best Books for Young Adults and 2008 YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers, and Leftovers. Originally from Milltown, New Jersey, she traded bumper-to-bumper traffic, excellent pizza, and summer days down the shore for scenic roads, bears, no pizza delivery, and the irresistible allure of an old stone house surrounded by forests in Pennsylvania's Endless Mountains Region. Email Laura Wiess at laura@laurawiess.com or visit http://www.laurawiess.com for more information.
1. Meredith frequently refers to numbers throughout the novel -- how many tiles there are in the bathroom, the amount of multivitamins she takes, and four being her "safety number." Why does Meredith find such comfort in numbers?
2. Discuss the theme of paralysis in Such a Pretty Girl and how it applies to each character.
3. "Ms. Mues shields me just to thwart my father. She doesn't really care for me. She's a plotter, a planner and what better way to avenge her son than to destroy her enemy's daughter? To gain my trust and use me to achieve her goal, much like my father used Andy..." (page 73). Do you think this is true? What is Ms. Mues's motivation for moving into Meredith's neighborhood?
4. "Four is my best number, but there are four years between my parents too, and I would rather fall down dead than find out we're anything like them" (page 74). How is the relationship between Andy and Meredith different than the relationship between Meredith's parents? Do you think Meredith is repeating her mother's mistake?
5. "A victim soul is a pious individual chosen to absorb the suffering o f others" (page 86). Who do you think acts as the victim soul in this novel? Does this person accept his/her role willingly?
6. "Andy's demons chase him just as hard as yours chase you" (page 114). How are Andy and Meredith different in dealing with their mutual psychological scars?
7. What is the significance of each of the recurring images in the novel: the Dumpster, the gold baseball pendant, roses, and the statue of Mary.
8. Discuss the relationship between Sharon and Charles. Why does she stay with him despite everything he's done? Meredith believes her mother will always choose her husband over her daughter. Is this true? If so, why does she want Meredith to stay with them instead of with her grandmother?
9. "It's the stuff that no one sees that does the most damage" (page 10). Sight is another theme in Such a Pretty Girl. What does each character choose not to see and how does that hurt them?
10.What do you think Meredith's future will be like? Will she become the stereotype of abused children? Or will she become its exception?
READER TIPS1. Visit Laura Wiess's blog at gypsyrobin.livejournal.com.
2. Did this book inspire you to get involved in protecting your community? Go to fbi.gov/hq/cid/cac/states.htm to find information on sex offenders who might be living in your neighborhood.
3. Watch the documentary highly recommended by the author, Just Melvin: Just Evil.
chelsriah
Posted March 27, 2009
This book is amazing.
Me and my girlfriend stayed up all night reading it.
We didn't put it down once, couldn't put it down.
keeps you on the end of your seat.
I recommend it, definitely!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted November 25, 2008
I Also Recommend:
Laura Wiess has written a compelling novel that deals with a painful subject. Meredith was sexually abused by her father, who has recently been released from prison. She is an anguished, wounded character struggling to overcome. And as the reader, I could feel the conflict inside her; would she ultimately be victim or victor?
Meredith was wise beyond her years, forced to grow up too early by her father's iniquities. Still, she felt unable to protect herself from her father, who had clearly not been successfully rehabilitated.
I think a talented writer not only creates characters for the reader to fall in love with, but often also gives us one or two to despise. Wiess created a truly loathsome character in Meredith's mother. She was ignorant and insipid and from the father's first day back home, repeatedly violated the court order not to leave him alone with Meredith. She was nearly as despicable as her pedophilic husband.
The system failed to protect Meredith just as abysmally as her mother did. Meredith seemed to fall between the cracks, leaving her frightened and vulnerable. Redemption would be her own doing, and that of a few people, her maternal grandmother, a caring neighbor, who were willing to get involved instead of merely looking the other way.
Besides being very well-written, Such a Pretty Girl is thought-provoking. Topics to be considered; can pedophiles be successfully rehabilitated? How effective is the sex-offender registry in its current format? Is it appropriate to take matters into our own hands when we see the system is failing to protect children? Are we even willing to?
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.In SUCH A PRETTY GIRL, Laura Wiess grabbed and held my attention from the first page to the last. New Jersey teenager Meredith was supposed to have nine years of safety from her father, so she'd be eighteen and out of the house when he was released from prison. But three years later, when Meredith is fifteen, her father gets out for good behavior. No matter what he did to Meredith and to other children before her, Meredith's mother is more than ready to take him back.
Meredith isn't alone, though. She has her grandmother, the mayor of the town, who wants Meredith to move in with her to escape her father. She has Andy, her best friend, the guy she is in love with, who was also scarred by Meredith's father as a child. She has Andy's mother, who moved across the street from Meredith's family just to keep other children from the horror from which she couldn't protect Andy. She has Nigel, a retired policemen who has a plan to get Meredith's father back in jail and away from children. Even though Meredith is far from alone, she still feels that way when she can't even count on the people every kid is supposed to be able to count on: her parents.
Meredith wants to get her father back in prison. She wants her mother to go back to visiting him instead of having him in their house. She wants to be able to go into her own home without fear. She wants other kids to be safe, too. She doesn't know what that's going to take, and she's certainly not unafraid, but she isn't going to let him hurt her, or any other kids, again.
This moving, powerful novel is one that should not be missed. Once you start reading it, you won't be able to put this book down. I wasn't! It's an emotional book that is beautifully, powerfully written and unique, and it'll stay with you long past the last word.
Laura Wiess's characters are as well-written as the rest of the book, very realistic (in some cases, scarily so). They're three-dimensional characters in an equally (and, again, scarily) believable story that will certainly be a favorite of anyone who reads it. I know it's one of mine now! Don't miss this book.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 17, 2011
* This is the first book I read from Laura Weiss and it was amazing. I couldn't put the book down, this book was great and I want to tell you so much but I don't want to spoil anything for anyone. But this book is just AMAZING!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 14, 2009
I Also Recommend:
Meredith was only twelve years old when she was molested by her father. Now fifteen and living life, her mother receives a phone call stating that the father is getting released from jail early. Meredith relapses into depression, but her Mother is ecstatic. Her father Charles comes home and tries, once again to rape his daughter. With the defense of the statue of the Holy Mary, will she be able to overcome her father?
Meredith is somewhat depressed but a very strong young girl who wants to put an end to her dad molesting children. Meredith's father, Charles, is sick in his mind and molested not only his own daughter, but other children too. Sharon, who is Meredith's mother, strongly believes her husband was confused when he molested children and blames Meredith for ruining the family and their reputation. Andy is the only person who is close to Meredith. He is a miserable alcoholic at the age of seventeen because he was paralyzed after graduation, and has never walked again. He too was molested by her father, but they secretly date behind Sharon's back.
""You didn't blame him, did you?" Her breath is sour in my nostrils. "You know he didn't mean it, he loves you, he really does. It was a mistake, Meredith, so nobody's really to blame. You understand that don't you?"" - Sharon.
The passage shows all the family's struggles in one paragraph. This was said by Meredith's mother Sharon. By Sharon saying this to her own daughter shows she would do anything for her husband. By Meredith telling the nurses of what happened to her, it would ruin the family in her mother's eyes. Meredith tells and now has to deal with her mother's anguish by herself.
The novel Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Weiss was amazingly written. She pulls you in and makes you feel Meredith's pain and anger throughout her childhood. There is no easy way out when someone has dug a hole that deep for you. The book taught me to put your strong foot forward and to never turn back to the past and live for the future. Every point in this book makes you believe that things will get better if you keep your head up. Meredith stays strong and does not run away from her problems. She takes control and puts her father away for good. The hero in this book is Meredith, always searching for the greater good.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 8, 2012
Great ending.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.RebeccaGail
Posted January 10, 2012
The way she writes is amazing, this is my favorite line from her book.
"My front teeth throb as the memory of the charm bangs against them."
Anonymous
Posted January 2, 2012
Your reading my comment
2. Now your saying/thinking thats a stupid fact.
4. You didnt notice that i skipped 3.
5. Your checking it now.
6. Your smiling.
7. Your still reading my comment.
8. You know all you have read is true.
10. You didnt notice that i skipped 9.
11. Your checking it now.
12. You didnt notice there are only 10 facts
Copy and paste to 1 book, tomorrow will be your best day ever! no matter WHAT!!!!!
0 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Posted November 27, 2011
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 5, 2011
this is alot better then i thought it would be!
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 3, 2011
I've re-read this book so many times, it hooks you by the first chapter. you'll never want to put it down!!
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Posted December 26, 2010
the specific detail given with emotion that drips out of every word written!! the suspense and mystery might just make this book perfect, this book makes the basic conflict (good vs. evil) different and great!!this is a good read
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.one word : wow . this book is one of the best books that i've ever opened . its very well written and keeps you wanting to read more and more . i could hardly put it down ! the story is qreat and the characters are awesome . a definite thumbs up .
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.SUCH A PRETTY GIRL is all about one girl's touch with her father. Three years ago, Meredith's dad was thrown into prision for sexually assaulting her, and other kids in their town. He was supposed to be there for 9 years. Turns out it only has to be three. He comes home to Meredith's mom, who believes he has changed, a new man, and one she wants to have another child with. Luckily, Meredith has neighbors to help her out. Andy, her currently crush and best friend, and who is also wheelchair bound, and Nigel, the police officer. Will her Dad change? This comes into test when he is left alone with her, for just one day..... SUCH A PRETTY GIRL goes through the struggles, and the emotional rollercoaster on how to survive for any girl in that situation.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.When i first saw this book i must say i was skeptical to read it. im not quite sure why, but i was. So anyways, when i first started reading this i was a little confused, but it only lasted for about 10 pages of reading. I think laura wiess is an amazing author with a talent. To write on such a touchy topic like this and make it so real is amazing. i definantly recommend this book to anyone! It will make you cry, and i am not joking. The pain that meredith has to go to is so sad, and it is even sadder to see how her mom reacts to it. i know its just a book, but there are kids in the same situation as meredith across he world, so sad and confused. I pray that these kids can find their peace like her.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I liked this book but it made me really angry when reading it, knowing this happens in real life everyday. I wanted so bad to punch her mother in the face,yes I know she's just a character in a book but being a mother myself, it just pissed me off so much how she stuck up for the man who did that to her daughter. Fifteen year old Meredith has spent the last three years without her father because he raped her and other kids. Angry that the system has failed her,he was supposed to be in there til after she turned eighteen(nine years), she tries everything in her power she can think of to repel her father from her. Her tactics don't work so her neighbor, a retired police officer gives her some hidden cameras to put around her house to catch him in the act and hopefully put him away for good. Meanwhile she's dealing with her boyfriend(Andy) leaving for a few days. For the last year he's been her rock to keep her strong. They both share the hurt of being taken advantage of by her father and she thinks he might not come back because of her father being back. The book is fast paced and gets straight to point,it takes you into a world most of us would rather not go.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Laura Wiess portrays her main character Meredith perfectly in the book "Such a Pretty Girl". The book follows Meredith as the narrator. She describes how her father had molested her and some of the other children from her school, and was prosecuted for his actions. Only he spent three years in jail for good behavior when he was sentenced to nine. Her mother never forgave her for turning her father in, and stood by her father telling Meredith that she should give him another chance when he decides to come live back home in the same condo complex that they live in.
Meredith explains her failures and triumphs as she tries to put an end to her father's perverted ways. She accounts her relationships with the neighbors in the complex, and devises concepts so she can try to stay sane in some very unsafe situations. Meredith's character goes completely out of her way sacrificing her innocence and what could be her childhood, morality, or life just to make sure her father will not strike again on any child in the world, ever.
A very dark, intriguing, and ravishing read. This book shows the truth and horror of victims of sex offenders around the world.
Anonymous
Posted November 29, 2009
Such a Pretty Girl is one of my favorite books. I read it in about a day because i couldnt put it down. I found it at a thrift store and fell in love with it just from reading the back cover. Such a Pretty Girl makes it impossible for the reader not to feel every emotion Merideth feels as her her father returns home. The characters are relatable and make you love them because they all support and care for Merideth in ways that her own flesh and blood do not. Merideth is a force to be reconed with as she single handedly take down her father aand puts herself at risk to save other children from facing the same fate she faced 3yrs earlier. This book is amazing and will leave peoples mouths hanging open until the very last sentence. After finishing the book i went to class the next day telling anyone who would listen about it, and have already lent it out to five of my friends. If you want a quick read that will deeply impact your life as well as keep you on your toes as you read it i definetly reccomend you read this book!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Such A Pretty Girl was an amazing book that relays a very important message about the sexual abuse of children by adults - even their own fathers.
As someone who has gone through something similar, I recommend this book to anyone who is in an abusive relationship of any sort but is not entirely sure what is happening.
One thing that I really don't like about this book is the fact that religion seemed to play somewhat of a big role in this book.
Overall, it was a very good read which can be finished in one sitting.
This book begs to be talked about. It is a haunting and realistic tale. It is in your face about the fears and violence of sexual abuse. I couldn't get enough of it. I took the book everywhere with me for the day and a half that it took me to read it just in case I got a chance to pick it up while I was out somewhere. I definitely recommend it!
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Overview
They promised Meredith nine years of safety, but only gave her three.
Her father was supposed to be locked up until Meredith turned eighteen. She thought she had time to grow up, get out, and start a new life. But Meredith is only fifteen, and today her father is coming home from prison.
Today her time has run out.