Vera
by Elizabeth von Arnim
It’s so difficult for me to give a spoiler-free review of Vera, but since I never give spoilers, I’ll have to find a way. If you think by the premise that you’re getting a version of Rebecca, think again, because this book is far more depressing.
The book starts off at a difficult part of both the female and male leads’ lives. Lucy has just lost her father and the rock of her life, and Everard is also grieving. They meet and comfort each other, and the readers are free to assume they’ll have a wonderful, strong bond to help guide them through a healthy relationship. Then, we start to get to know Everard a little better, and he becomes one of if not the most emotionally abusive characters I’ve ever read. Since the book is written in third person, each of the characters thoughts are explained; he’s so incredibly selfish and self-centered it’s literally nauseating. For example, it’s his birthday, and he expects Lucy to know the exact routine of giving him flowers at a certain point in the day and the exact wording he wants to hear her best wishes of the day, even though he only hinted at his preferences earlier in their courtship and she’s never lived through a birthday with him. When she doesn’t become a mind reader overnight, he has a temper tantrum and punishes her with verbal abuse she doesn’t understand. This type of behavior, emotional wife-beating, is repeated constantly throughout the book, and Lucy keeps trying to please him and make up for all the mistakes she’s made, even though she hasn’t done anything wrong.
Perhaps if you’ve just survived an emotionally abusive relationship and have gone through enough therapy or self-therapy that you’re absolutely convinced you’ll never fall into a similar trap, you might like reading this book because you’ll identify with Lucy’s tears and heartache. If you currently are in such a relationship and haven’t grown out of it yet, this will be an extremely painful book to read, since you will share in Lucy’s mindset and most likely try to come up with ways alongside her to please Everard. To people I like, I wouldn’t really recommend this book since I found it so draining and upsetting, but if it’s a type of relationship that really interests you, you can see if it’s a cathartic experience.
The book starts off at a difficult part of both the female and male leads’ lives. Lucy has just lost her father and the rock of her life, and Everard is also grieving. They meet and comfort each other, and the readers are free to assume they’ll have a wonderful, strong bond to help guide them through a healthy relationship. Then, we start to get to know Everard a little better, and he becomes one of if not the most emotionally abusive characters I’ve ever read. Since the book is written in third person, each of the characters thoughts are explained; he’s so incredibly selfish and self-centered it’s literally nauseating. For example, it’s his birthday, and he expects Lucy to know the exact routine of giving him flowers at a certain point in the day and the exact wording he wants to hear her best wishes of the day, even though he only hinted at his preferences earlier in their courtship and she’s never lived through a birthday with him. When she doesn’t become a mind reader overnight, he has a temper tantrum and punishes her with verbal abuse she doesn’t understand. This type of behavior, emotional wife-beating, is repeated constantly throughout the book, and Lucy keeps trying to please him and make up for all the mistakes she’s made, even though she hasn’t done anything wrong.
Perhaps if you’ve just survived an emotionally abusive relationship and have gone through enough therapy or self-therapy that you’re absolutely convinced you’ll never fall into a similar trap, you might like reading this book because you’ll identify with Lucy’s tears and heartache. If you currently are in such a relationship and haven’t grown out of it yet, this will be an extremely painful book to read, since you will share in Lucy’s mindset and most likely try to come up with ways alongside her to please Everard. To people I like, I wouldn’t really recommend this book since I found it so draining and upsetting, but if it’s a type of relationship that really interests you, you can see if it’s a cathartic experience.