Question E

[Jonetta]

Daisy is brutally raped in Smithie’s parking lot. We’re given very limited details about what happened but learn more about what happened to her through the reactions of the men who care about her. Your thoughts about how the author chose to portray the assault? Was it more or less powerful emotionally?

[Anita]

The rape of sweet, caring Daisy was hard to take. The final straw in the crapfest that was her life before she got to Denver. It was powerful and very sad. Daisy finally was making it and she is reduced to feeling worthless.

[Sharon]

I thought it was very powerful. Sometimes the gory details, even when realistic, are hard to read.

Daisy tried so hard to be a good person and for someone to violate her was too much to bear. She had a hard young life, and I felt that she was moving past all that then someone tried to knock her down again.

[Laura]

I thought it was sugar coated and not very powerful the way it was portrayed. I thought the men seemed more devastated in their reactions then Daisy. That aspect of the story didn’t really work for me. Maybe it’s because I’ve read the series and how Daisy acts in a later book influenced me here.

[Jonetta]

It was extremely powerful for me. To have presented more graphic details would have distracted me from the essential point..lthe devastating impact on Daisy’s spirit and sense of self. That one moment took her to a place where she felt she was “nothing.” The contrast of the men’s horror of seeing the rape against Daisy’s transformation was moving. I got caught up in the impact, the result of the crime instead of the brutality. It made such a difference for me as I got to see experience how rape is a crime deserving much harsher sentences than our current justice system metes out.

Sorry, Laura. It hit me harder this way and didn’t feel sugar coated. I’m worn out from being drawn into the act versus how it changes a woman permanently.

[Lauren]

Ashley made the right decision in not providing too many details. Personally, I cannot read these kinds of scenes and often find them to be unnecessary both to plot and characterization. I have even DNF'd a book or two because of this trope.

In Daisy's case, the trauma and suffering are clearly present not only in Daisy's reactions but in those around her as well. In fact, the lack of detail makes it even more heartwrenching as the reader is left to fill in their own details and our imaginations are more personal and effective.

[Lynn]

Once again, I think the decision to leave out details comes from the limited length of the book.