Wow.
This book is phenomenal and revolting. Vanessa is fantastically written, so complex-- naive and manipulative, powerful and powerless. Russell does an incredible job of showing the complexity of this relationship, the slippery ways that a groomer can get their hooks into a victim. She also shows the contrast of Vanessa being determined not to be a victim, that that's not her story, and very slowly coming to terms with what it even means to BE a victim. Unlike Lolita (which I haven't read yet but plan to) this is wholly about the victim, their perspective, and the aftermath. This is just so phenomenally written, I'm blown away.