Vanessa Wye is a student at Browick, a private boarding school, and is struggling to fit in. She feels less awkward and empowered when her 42-year-old English teacher, Jacob Strane, starts paying attention to her—he compliments Vanessa and shows interest in her poetry.
A secret affair begins. Strane is a complex and entitled abuser that compares Vanessa to a dark romantic, just like he is.
Years later, at the height of the #MeToo movement, a former student of Strane's comes forward with claims of sexual abuse. Vanessa is contacted by a journalist with the hopes that she too will share her story. Still in contact with Strane, Vanessa struggles with the notion that the relationship may not have been the great love story that she's believed it to be.
My Dark Vanessa is a psychological feast. While the writing is captivating (for the most part) and compelling, it is disturbing and uncomfortable. It is an unflinching and unapologetic story about a predatory relationship that has marred the main character in all facets of her life.
The narrative moves back and forth between Vanessa as a schoolgirl, and as a single, 32-year-old that has trouble with men. This adult version of Vanessa has been derailed by her affair with Strane. It has affected her her education, her relationships, and her career. Vanessa is unreliable as she works through what she has always believed to be romantic and consensual versus the violation of a young girl. When looking at Russell's secondary characters, she flattens them. Perhaps this was done on purpose to propel Strane and Vanessa's flaws and the ugliness of their toxic union.
With long passages about Vanessa's mundane school and social life, Russell may lose some readers with her need to provide too much unnecessary detail. There is a lot of needless bulk and it was very redundant. What was also surprising given the length, was how abruptly the book ended. Again, too much time was wasted on insignificant details and repetition.
Russell is a powerful writer who is able to articulate how a victim could possibly fall for her abuser. This is a solid debut.
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KATE ELIZABETH RUSSELL holds a PhD in creative writing from the University of Kansas and an MFA from Indiana University.
Russell is originally from eastern Maine.
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