🎇🎇🎇🎇🎇 5 out of 5 stars 'Kellcey: A brave memoir about finding hope after trauma.' https
Kellcey is a coming of age/survival memoir that reads like a personal diary or journal. Realistic and heartbreaking, it tells of what can happen to any of us: sisters, our daughters, or friends if we find ourselves in the wrong social situation with the wrong people. Life portrayed initially in Vancouver was like any young woman might share, friendships, school, weekends away at the beach, fashion and a love for music. Loss of her sister in a tragic accident, then the unraveling of her parent’s marriage becomes part of Kellcey’s fast-forward into adulthood. First love is shown in such a way that brought back sweet memories of my own, but after that point in this memoir…the comparison to my experience stops. What struck home for me was how close to a normal teen’s life this was, until one night Kellcey made a grave mistake and her life downshifted into sexual assault, torment, shame and terror. The instinctual warning she felt for John many times before came to fruition and her true-love (or so she thought) didn’t stand up for her when she needed him the most. Was Ben’s complacency because of the effects of alcohol or was it something else entirely? It’s tough to say. There are so many important messages to hear and listen to in this brave memoir. Rather than dwell on the atrocity of what happened, I would like to say this. Listen to your gut instinct. Please read this true story and talk about it, learn to trust yourself if something feels off. Support people who come forward to talk about it. When or if something happens like this to you or someone you know, find your community as Kellcey did to heal and try to pick up the pieces. Educate yourself about this enormous issue and make it known that predators like the one’s portrayed in this story have no place in this world. The saddest part is the person who was the most aggressive in this retelling, and who is totally evil hails from a “Good Family.” It’s always difficult to imagine that the handsome, intelligent kid from around the block could do something so heinous. But it happened in this case and happens more often than we know, because very few of the victims feel as if they can safely report it without being ostracized by society for assuming that the victim somehow instigated this. To be perfectly clear, rape is not about sex at all; it’s about control and destruction. Rape needs to end and the shaming of people who talk about surviving it is only the beginning. Parents need to speak to all of their children and talk about this when they are discussing life and important topics. I have had countless girlfriends approach me to share similar stories, and I cannot say enough how important it is to speak out, and find a way for modern society to put an end to this horrible, toxic crime. Thank you so much for sharing your story. I admire the author for her bravery, honesty, and ability to find hope and live in the light again. You are amazing!
