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I was looking for some nice escapist reading and so I picked up an OSC novel lying around the house. (Apparently, Spouse got it for a dollar somewhere.) I checked the back cover and figured, cool, it's one of the "special boy is very special" ones, not one of the "special boy is raped and otherwise abused and then murdered" ones. Acceptable escapist reading!
But then the special boy gets to have rape threatened three times in the story. And he is sexually molested by--get this--a traumatized woman who has "men issues" because she was raped all the time as a kid. And not in a "this woman is a real character" kind of way. More of a "women are inscrutable but really people (i.e. men) shouldn't go hurting the poor things" kind of way. And, really OSC? I know you are /capable/ of doing character well.
And *then*, at the end of the book where things are supposed to be pleasant and satisfying, OSC manages to stick a three year old and a five year old boy each in separate solitary confinement for over *a year* and then he handily has a baby murdered who just happens to be the exact age of my son.
Nice, relaxing escapist reading. Grr. Stupid OSC. Couldn't he at least not be a good storyteller so I don't keep being tempted to read his stuff?
And isn't he, like, embarrassed to publish his stuff? Like, I'm not saying any victim of abuse should be embarrassed to tell the world about it, even indirectly. But I feel like reading this book I ended up getting his need for therapy sort of thrust on me. Ick.
But then the special boy gets to have rape threatened three times in the story. And he is sexually molested by--get this--a traumatized woman who has "men issues" because she was raped all the time as a kid. And not in a "this woman is a real character" kind of way. More of a "women are inscrutable but really people (i.e. men) shouldn't go hurting the poor things" kind of way. And, really OSC? I know you are /capable/ of doing character well.
And *then*, at the end of the book where things are supposed to be pleasant and satisfying, OSC manages to stick a three year old and a five year old boy each in separate solitary confinement for over *a year* and then he handily has a baby murdered who just happens to be the exact age of my son.
Nice, relaxing escapist reading. Grr. Stupid OSC. Couldn't he at least not be a good storyteller so I don't keep being tempted to read his stuff?
And isn't he, like, embarrassed to publish his stuff? Like, I'm not saying any victim of abuse should be embarrassed to tell the world about it, even indirectly. But I feel like reading this book I ended up getting his need for therapy sort of thrust on me. Ick.
