Such a Pretty Girl

12-year-old Meredith's father is sent to prison for nine years for raping her repeatedly. But he's paroled in only three, when Meredith is 15, and, because Meredith's selfish, narcissistic mother wants her husband back, he sets about working his way back into Meredith's life and continuing where he left off.

Let's just get one thing out of the way: this book requires an enormous suspension of disbelief, at least if you have even the most tangential contact with the real justice system. First of all: nine years for raping your own daughter? Nowhere but Bizarro World -- I don't care what kind of psychiatric testimony the guy presented. 40 years would be more like it for that crime. And parole after three years? For sex with your show more 12-year-old? Nuh-uh. Not anywhere in America, certainly. And finally, there would be no way in hell that the guy would be allowed anywhere near his minor daughter after his parole. Just no way in hell -- it would probably be a condition of his parole that he not get within 500 yards of her, much less live in the same condo development. But that's just what he does here. Uh, no. (Please don't leave comments saying, "You're wrong! I know someone, and her sister-in-law's cousin had this EXACT SAME THING happen to her." If you want to send me a documented story showing that something like this actually happened in the United States sometime within the last 20 years or so, fine, but please, spare me the fifth-hand accounts that you overheard at a party a couple months ago.) There's more than just a suspension of disbelief problem here -- by presenting such an unbelievable story, Wiess sensationalizes her subject.

Let's put that aside, though, and make believe, for the sake of argument, that the wildly unbelievable plot is actually chock full of verisimilitude. Wouldn't matter: although this book is a page turner, it still isn't all that impressive. Wiess is on a mission, and she will never let us forget it for one second. And as with all writers whose mission overcomes their craft, her writing has an unfortunate tendency to become melodramatic and, even worse, overly expository. Long passages describing the effects of sexual abuse don't really do much to advance your story, even when they're disguised as inner monologues. And Meredith's mother, a figure of pure evil and nothing more, actually has dialog like, ""We're supposed to stick together, family is supposed to stick together. He made a mistake! Lots of people make mistakes and no one tells on them! How could you?" and "Why did you have to ruin our family?" This sort of thing is not, to put it kindly, the apex of psychological realism. She might as well have been named Snidely Whiplash for how well she was portrayed -- if she had had a mustache, she surely would have twirled it while cackling and tying Meredith to the railroad tracks.

And frankly, even if you could point to a case that tracks this one, it would take a certain finesse, along with an exceedingly deft touch, to fictionalize so awful a story. Unfortunately, this book has neither, and too readily descends into pathos and self-importance. The author interview included at the end doesn't help matters, I'm sorry to say. Wiess's earnest remarks about the "white-hot blast of terror, fury, and despair" that she felt while writing the first draft just strengthened my impression that she wasn't interested so much in writing fiction as she was in writing a political tract.

Although the strong narrative does carry the reader along, Such a Pretty Girl ultimately isn't able to stand up under the weight of its own outrage. show less

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.

I finished it in one sitting at my job (I'm a receptionist at my university's library) so all I really do is catch up on my reading. This book from the first sentence up until the very last, really captivated me. Weiss has a very fluid, familiar voice that I haven't come across in a long time. This book made me so very angry, and so overjoyed at the same time. I clung so close to Meredith, hoping that she could stay strong to show more see it through until the end. The relationship she had with Andy was a little strange to me, but I wasn't very surprised by it considering the lack of interest her terrible mother has taken in her life. I HATED her mother and father with a passion. She's one of those women that can't survive without a man and given the chance will choose him over her child, each and every time. Her father is just a sick and evil man, and I really looked forward to the end he got. However, it's a tad bit unrealistic to sexually abuse several children (including your own) and only get 9 years in prison. Maybe if the father was never sent to prison or was cleared for all charges due to lack of evidence or some other bullshit that usually happens in cases like these, the plot may have been a bit more realistic.

Laura Weiss, thank you for writing this book, as it makes those around us more aware of the dangers of child abuse and how rampant it runs in our world. I'm currently starting Leftovers and I know I won't be disappointed! show less

Meredith is sitting by a dumpster in her condominium complex waiting for her father to come home from prison. In the pit of her stomach is a boulder of anxiety and fear heavy enough to weigh her down to her spot on the curb because where would she run to even if she was light enough to move. This is home. For three years she's struggled to cope with what has happened, safe in the knowledge that she'd have six more years of freedom to deal with it.

All morning long her mother has chirped and fluttered about the house like a preening happy bird out of a children's fairytale because she's excited that the man who abused and molested at least five known children is coming home to her today. Everything will be perfect now. It was just a show more mistake. They are still family and family forgives each other's mistakes, right? The parole board did so it must be ok. He was suppose to go away for nine years but he's out in three because he's been so well behaved. He's been a model prisoner. He's so sorry and he's mended his ways.

It'll be like it never happened. At least until it happens again.
______________

So I don't need to tell you what this book is about. I think you get it and if you need a moment to process it, take it. It's a heavy subject, one that shouldn't even exist in a story, in a book, in a country, in a world or even in a thought. But it does and through very meticulous weaving of past and present events, Wiess has written a road map to guide you through the awful and to help you see rape and abuse through the victim's eyes without scaring you back into the safety of your own conscious that doesn't like to admit that such a thing is even possible. Taking into consideration the magnitude of this subject, the brevity and careful, thoughtful retelling of the events in Meredith's past make it easy to take the plunge and see the book through. Wiess never intends to scare you away or beat you down with her subject matter, she intends only to help you understand. Given what she could have done, I think she handles the reader's emotions with kid gloves.

This is a marvelous read worthy of immediate devouring. I couldn't put it down once I started. Be prepared to travel the full spectrum of emotion. The physical description of Meredith's father is so vivid- when she described his gold necklace against his hairy chest my skin crawled instantly and I hated him more than ever. I loathed her mother and wanted to beat her senseless with my bare hands. What a rotten, stupid, pathetic individual. And Meredith earned a "hell yes, girl" when she finally took matters into her own hands and saved her day with an almost superhero like display of strength. Meredith has a unique way of coping with what has happened to her and a very eclectic self-appointed safety net of people who's stories and roles in the book make for well timed breaks as we start to deal with Meredith's life. I loved it. It's re-readable because even without a happy ending (because can there ever really be one when we're talking abuse?) the story leaves us all set to go on with our lives. Definitely a good book hangover. show less

This was a dark, gut-wrenching book focusing on a horrific issue. Fifteen-year-old Meredith was a very sympathetic character, hard as nails on the outside, but on the inside she was broken, hurting and full of fear. I just wanted to hug her and find a place for her where she felt safe. Her parents, I loathed passionately! Her father, obviously, for his sick abuse, and Meredith's mother for being so shallow and refusing to believe her daughter. When she told Meredith that her father had "just made a mistake" I wanted to slap her, hard!! In fact, the only adults I liked were Nigel, the cop on the case, and her maternal grandmother. At least Meredith's welfare was their number one concern. However, there was something missing in this book. show more At times I was put off by the revolting creepiness of the father, and I felt that the dialogue didn't always ring true. Also, the ending came abruptly and was just too contrived for my liking. show less

This book is so heartbreaking. I actually found it years ago in the regular fiction section of my local Borders (may it rest in piece) and I actually have never found it in a YA section, though I classify all of Laura Wiess' books as YA and I know most people do.

This book is about Meredith who was abused by her father and he was sent to prison and was supposed to in till she turned 18 and could move out on her own, never to see him again. But instead he gets out early and at 15 Meredith finds herself having to deal with her own worst nightmare.

Meredith's mother is totally on her father's side, content with thinking the abuse was an "accident" and goes against the courts and allows Meredith's father to live with them. She is so ignorant show more about the entire situation and unfortunately that is the case with so many situations like Meredith's.

Thankfully she has allies in her condo unit. A ex police officer who answered the call on Meredith's father years ago and a boy in a wheelchair whose apartment she escapes to daily. But even with places to go and people on her side she has to come home sometime and when she does she is met with leering stares and innuendos from a father she was never supposed to see again.

This story was so honest, so gut-wrenching, I was captivated. It's relatively short and I read it in one day. I have reread it a few times and it is just as powerful every time. As someone who was a victim of sexual abuse I can tell you, this story could not be told better. There was never a time when I thought it seemed forced, the entire situation was written so incredibly well.

The language is a bit strong but the entire situation with what exactly happened to Meredith that put her father in prison is danced around, not ever explained in explicit detail. Still, though, it's heavy subject matter and even though I am pretty laid back about recommended ages for teens I would say this is a book for ages 16 and up.

I have lended my copy out to a few friends and all of them loved it and said it was one of the most powerful novels they have ever read. Definitely worth the read. show less

Susan says: Meredith is a 15 year old whose father has been unexpectedly released from jail. Where he was incarcerated for molesting her and other children in their neighborhood. Her mother is one of the most in-denial people you can imagine, cruelly so - choosing her father over Meredith's safety. And so it is up to Meredith, along with a small group of supporters, to save herself. The molestation scenes are creepy and repulsive, yet also very honest. They will not go away and give Meredith peace, and she knows she will probably not get any peace. This is the story of a survivor and one who is trying to heal. Meredith has more strength than anyone in her family, and she uses that to 'win' in a surprising way. This book is disturbing show more and gripping all at once. show less

Here is the first thing I would like to say about this novel: don't let the fact that it is young adult fiction keep you from reading it. I am so glad I read Such a Pretty Girl despite its genre classification.

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 show more 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. 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? show less