Miss Emily Review

I bought Miss Emily along with The Red Notebook in 2015. Must have been an off day, because I didn’t love either of these books — probably why it took me so long to get around to reading them. The description on the back of the book did not specify that this book would be about a brutal rape (and also old-timey medical treatments for gonorrhea — listen to the This Podcast Will Kill You episode for more info), so that was a nasty surprise. The phrase used in the description is “Ada’s safety and reputation are threatened.” Her safety is not “threatened???” Her safety is violated. She isn’t safe. I’m mad at whoever wrote this description. It was upsetting and I would have liked to know ahead of time. I would not recommend this book for this reason alone.

Since I would not recommend that anyone ever reads this book, I have no qualms spoiling the rest of the story arc. I also take issue with the ending — Ada’s problems are solved at the end by getting married. Obviously, it would not be realistic to send her to therapy in 1866, but surely O’Conner could have wrapped her story better than “her crush kills her rapist and then they get married and live happily ever after???”

O’Connor’s writing style isn’t bad, but it didn’t click with me. I’m sorry that is the only (semi?) positive thing I have to say about this book.