Living Dead Girls by Elizabeth Scott

Author : Elizabeth Scott
Title : Living Dead Girl
Published : 2008
Publisher : Simon Pulse
Pages : 170
Genre : Contemporary Fiction

     Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared. Once upon a time, my name was not Alice. 

Once upon a time, I didn't know how lucky I was. When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends -- her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over. Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her.

     So this for me was a very difficult book to get through. I'm not really sure what I was expecting when I first started it, but what it delivered was certainly a whole lot for its very short nature. I had seen people comment on other books that when it came to stories of abduction and abuse this was a much more realistic and scarring book. For me, it is hard to say who this book is really aimed at. It is by no means a pleasant experience. But it is by no means supposed to be. 

     Throughout its one hundred and seventy pages we are locked inside Alice's head. Once a little girl just like any other she has now grownup in a brutal world controlled by one man. She tells us how she was molded into his personal plaything. A human devoid of life, she has become a hollowed person two does as she is told. It is without a word of a lie a horrific thing to read as she tells us of her day to day life. Along with Alice, we are caught up in this nightmare excitants. Spending time inside the head of some who is emotionally damaged is a strange place to find yourself. Let alone someone who thinks their only form of freedom is complete inhalation of herself. This is a book that shows us what it means to have all sense of self ripped away. As you read all you want to do is take her away from this place and take her somewhere safe. Her captor is obviously very present in the story, but we are never forced into how perspective. The author doesn't try and let him explain his actions to us. At no point could anything he could possibly say want me to feel anything for him other than hatred, a word I don't often use but here seems the only applicable thing to feel.

     Credit, where credit is due, this author, has created a book that is truly more terrifying than most horror books. She has created a claustrophobic world were escape seems entirely impossible. It is a story that seems so very real and you are left feeling beaten down by the very experience of reading it. You would think that with such a short book it would be hard to archive such a feet. But what she has achieved here is something else beyond. You are left feeling like Alice, which is a credit to the author. She wants you to understand her lead and the hopelessness of what it means for those how have been abducted and abused.  If I'm really honest with myself I don't think this book would be improved by being any longer. Every sentence is carefully planned to achieve the most brutal impact. Each moment we are left holding our breath as we wait in this cold little world. I don't think  I have every thought no don't do it or just leave her alone in my head so much. It is one of those books that makes you want to scream and rant. But for the reader, there is nothing we can do except continue on the heels of Alice.  

     To says this was a harrowing experience for me would be an understatement. It has left me with scars from the imagery that will take a very long time to heal. Even now I find it hard to put into detail everything this book put me through emotionally. what I would say is that this book is listed as Young Adult. More in part I suspect due to the age of the lead. I would suggest reading it first before deciding if you think it is right for yours to read.