#50 Consent: A Memoir by Vanessa Springnora Consent is the story of one precocious young girl’s stolen adolescence. Devastating in its honesty, Vanessa’s painstakingly memoir lays bare the cultural attitudes and circumstances that made it possible for a thirteen-year-old girl to become involved with a fifty-year-old man who happened to be a notable writer. As she recalls the events of her childhood and her seduction by one of her country’s most notable writers, Vanessa reflects on the ways in which this disturbing relationship changed and affected her as she grew older.
First, what this girl experienced was horrible. It is appalling that so many people in her life and society at that time were complicit. As to the style of the writing, with such a powerful story, I was surprised that it was so detached.
