I Own You: She Was an Abused Girl and a Battered Wife - Until the Day She Fought Back
Pan
January 12th 2017
Paperback
416
As a little girl Dawn seemed to have a charmed life, but she was hiding a dark secret: that her older brother, John, was abusing her. Then, aged fourteen, she was groomed by the father of a schoolfriend, a local businessman who seemed to love her. She ran away from home to be with him. Pregnant at sixteen, rejected by her parents, she ended up marrying him. She had no idea that he was a notorious criminal.
For years, Dawn suffered horrific abuse from her husband and was frequently hospitalized. She was also forced to work all hours in the bars he owned and realized she was good at business - better than him. As her confidence grew, she found the strength to tell the police about her brother. Gradually, Dawn realized she was more than a battered wife - she was a survivor. When she fell in love with a genuinely good man, she hatched a dangerous plan to free herself from her abusive husband and take the thing he cared about most - his money.
I have come to realise that this type of book is probably one of my favourites. I personally enjoy memoirs, especially those where the main characters overcomes a challenging or tragic event. This interest developed after reading, ‘A boy called IT’ many years ago. ‘I own you’ did not disappoint. I read the book extremely quickly and found it hard to put it down. The chapters were easy to read, (despite the disturbing events) and the pacing was good.
I was really routing for the main character and really admired her achievements so much. The author is one very clever lady who has continually turned a potentially bad situation into a profitable, positive result. This takes determination, perseverance and strength. It is a sad reality, but it was probably the horrendous abuse that she suffered that gave her some of these characteristics.
My only complaint about the book would be the lack of description – both settings and characters. I found it REALLY difficult to visualise in my mind’s eye what any of them looked like as I felt the author gave so little away. Maybe this was intentional since it is a true story – I am not sure since she does use her real name so openly. It might also be my own personal preference to receive detailed descriptions. The author manages to express the personalities of the people well – especially the disgusting husband and cold-hearted mother, but I was definitely in need of more.
I have a lot of mutual respect for authors who are willing to lay out their lives for all to read – no holds barred, in order for the rest of us to learn something.
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