The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
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Book Reviews of The Girl Next Door
Book Review: It wasn't her aunt
Summary: 5 Stars
Sylvia Likens was not killed by her aunt and cousins as many reviewers have stated. Gertrude was just a neighborhood lady who took in Sylvia and her sister because their parents offered to pay her $20 a week while they traveled with a carnival. She was poor, had too many kids and barely supported them. Sylvia's father never bothered to check out Gertrude's home to make sure it was suitable for his children. In his own words he "didn't want to pry" into Gertrude's private life. Unbelievable. Just wanted to clear that up. Might be kind of insulting to the Likens' family to say their own blood was responsible for the death (although some would say the parents were partially to blame for not checking up on their daughters).Book Review: THE GIRL NEXT DOOR
Summary: 5 Stars
Make no mistake, this book isn't a happy book. It is, without a doubt, the most disturbing book I've ever read. Violence, rape, lewd behaviour, depravity, wickedness, it has all of these. Jack Ketchum never leaves any doubt about where he's taking us and everything you've heard about this guy is true.
But depravity's not the point Ketchum's trying to make with this book, I think. He wants to educate us, to help us identify the bad guys. Seriously, who expects a funny book from a premise like that? No one. What we should be doing with this book is evaluating ourselves and to change the way we think about abuse. To do something against it.
I think that's the best compliment I can give this book.
Book Review: Monsters dont have to be fictional
Summary: 5 Stars
I can not begin to express the feelings I got from reading this book. Like other reviewers, I can sit through books like American Psycho and not be as disturbed, but I was in shock while reading this book. Not only is the story true, but it is written out so well by Jack Ketchum. You can picture everything he is describing..unfortunately. Definately worth reading just for that fact that it is a true story and shows that even though we can describe monsters as scary non-human creatures, what people should be scared of are the real monsters, other humans.Book Review: Horrifying
Summary: 5 Stars
If you have been a victim of child abuse, do not read this book. If you are sensitive to this subject matter, do not read this book. Many times I knew that I should have put this book down and taken a shower, but it just kept drawing me back in. Definitely a book that will stay with me a long time. A horrifying tale of abuse of a young girl at the hands of the neighborhood children and her own relatives. While the subject matter is hard to deal with, Ketchum's writing is wonderful and really makes you turn the pages, whether you want to or not.Book Review: How normal are your neighbors?
Summary: 5 Stars
As I read this book, I kept telling myself that the happy ending would come soon, that someone would finally step in and say "enough is enough" and save this girl from her abusers. But, no, the abuse just got more disturbing and at one point I threw the book across the room becuase I couldn't take it anymore. Just like the main character David, I too felt compelled to return to the basement next door.
This is a sick story- hard to put down, hard to stomach, but well written nonetheless.