*[Blog Tour Review] Against My Will by Benjamin Berkley

 

 

Summary:

 

Rose is a young girl and has just been liberated from a Nazi death camp. As she is convalescing in the hospital, a nurse hands her a journal and suggests that she records her experience before she forgets. Rose says that she will "never forget." 70 years later, her grand -daughter Danielle discovers the journal entries. Danielle is struggling in an abusive relationship. And the two lives intersect. This is the story of survival, self- discovery, justice, and ultimately about love.

Summary & Photo taken from Goodreads.com

Length: 247 pages (Paperback)

Source: Review Copy

Publication Date: September 1st 2012 by Frederick Fell     

Talk about a dramatic read. I wasn't expecting Benjamin Berkley's fictional debut to be such a raw, dramatic emotionally intense read but it was and it was a pleasant surprise. The book is told through the eyes two women from the same family told decades apart but their stories intersect when Danielle receives her grandmother's journal and it becomes the driving force behind Danielle's decisions throughout the book.

The book, like I said before is very dramatic. It is emotionally charged and the situations as well as the language (while the language is not extreme) is definitely an adult novel due to the nature of some of the scenes including a rape scene (not glorified). I was taken aback by the tone the author set in the novel but ultimately it intrigued me and had me reading late into the night.

Danielle's story of being married to a cold hearted, manipulative, narcissistic, man (and I use the term very loosely) was hard to read but Danielle was a really strong and convincing character. The reason I mention that is because a lot of the time when I come across a male author they have trouble writing a female character. Mr. Berkley honestly had no trouble with his characterization of Danielle or an of the other characters in my honest opinion. He made them very real and the story as horrible as the events in it were had a ring of truth to it in a way that you can believe the events happening in the novel are probably happening to some poor woman like Danielle.

I was also surprised that the author chose to right this story. I'm not complaining but I found that Mr. Berkley's take on such a touchy subject was written as tastefully and with great insight into his characters as well as his plot. To be honest this is probably one of the best adult fiction novels I've read in the past year or so because of the authors skill.

I highly recommend this novel to everyone who loves fiction, especially dramatic fiction that makes you think about some hard issues while making you want to read on and on until you get to the end and feel a little shaken up by what you've read.

*I received a free copy in exchange for my free and honest review. I was not compensated in any way and all thoughts and opinions expressed therein are my own.

Really Liked It!
★ ★ ★★

 

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