Playing Dead
A Memoir of Terror and Survival
Monique Faison Ross with Gary M. Krebs
Wild Blue Press, Sep 1, 2019
248 pages, Kindle
Memoir: Domestic Violence
NetGalley
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The cover on this book is understated, but I think it really ties to the author’s story very well since it was the weapon used against her. No sensational picture would have worked half as well as this simple fence and shovel.
The author tells her story as if she is reporting it to you. For some reason, in my head, I was hearing her tell all this in a rather monotone voice the way someone would when they’ve been through the story several times and they are rather worn down from it. As if in a shock-like state and they just want to tell it and put it all behind them. There seems to be no attempt to embellish what’s going on, the events are dramatic enough in their raw state.
We hear this story so often. A marriage that’s not really quite right from the beginning. A husband who derides his wife at every opportunity until her self-worth is almost gone and she starts to wonder if she really is as useless and unattractive as he says. Children didn’t solve the problem, of course. They just created more targets and great hostages to her behavior. A puppy? Yeah, that makes a great target, too. The author takes us from some snide remarks to constant verbal abuse and plunges us into the physical violence of her relationship with her husband just the way it happened. Her primary goal through all of this was to protect her children.
This book ticks off so many of my taboos that I’m really not sure why I requested the book. This is definitely not a book for someone with triggers of domestic violence, child abuse, or animal abuse. But I do highly recommend it as a survivor’s story for those who enjoy reading about the ones who made it through and out the other side. Thank you to Wild Blue Press for providing a copy.
a thoughtful reveal 