3 out of 4 stars
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Imagine studying hard and pressing toward a goal of being admitted to West Point. Eventually, your dreams come true and, though difficult, you feel you are where you belong. Then imagine one day in your second year at West Point, you wake up to find yourself in a strange hotel with no recollection of how you got there. You also have no memories to tell you why you hurt all over, or why your boyfriend is acting strangely. You are fatigued beyond comprehension for no apparent reason. When you are back on campus, you collapse and are taken to the hospital. The doctors ask if you have been raped. To your knowledge, the answer is “no.” Yet, the doctors write up in the medical report that you have the most horrific injuries they have ever seen.
This is the beginning of Tracey Brame’s story, as written in Undeterred. This is the beginning of Tracey's struggle with PTSD and dissociative memory disorder. Unfortunately for Tracey, she was surrounded by people who believe a woman should never be better than a man. If a woman is naturally smarter than men, works harder than men, in any way shows up a man, that woman deserves nothing but to be taken down, beaten, and destroyed. Jaynes C. Jhomes, Jr. comes into Tracey’s life as the perfect gentleman wooing and protecting her from the jeers and taunts of the mostly white population of West Point. Tracey and Jaynes appeared to be the perfect African American couple. After gaining Tracey’s loyalty, Jaynes raped her so viciously, her mind refused to take it in. PTSD ruled the rest of Tracey’s life.
I have, of course, heard of PTSD, but I did not know that PTSD can take the form of a severe short-term memory loss. Traumatic events are completely blocked and the sufferer exhibits extreme fatigue among other things. Only after enough time passes, the repressed memories may start to return in flashbacks. After being raped by Jaynes, Tracey had no memory of the event. She did not remember this event for many years, which allowed Jaynes to continue exploiting her. When his subsequent murder attempt failed, he resorted to destroying Tracey's life by any means possible, including the manipulation of voice recordings that he mailed to all of her future employers.
When Tracey graduated from West Point, she ended up in Indiana as a representative for Pfizer. Her job was to peddle drugs to doctor offices. What Tracey did not know is that her territory was ruled by the KKK. The doctors in the area would “vote” on new drug reps. Any rep they did not like would be run out of town. As a black female, Tracey did not have a chance. As a PTSD sufferer, Tracey faced additional challenges that nearly claimed her life.
Undeterred is the raw autobiography of a young black woman who faced extreme challenges as a rape victim and a victim of the KKK. As such, parts of Undeterred are very difficult to read. I personally cannot understand treating another person in such a vile manner as Tracey was treated. Neither can I understand the malicious intent of the doctors in Indiana. I am glad that Tracey is a survivor and that she has the courage to expose this system.
Tracey’s story is simple and yet complex. For someone who does not suffer with PTSD, it is difficult to understand how these horrible things could be happening with Tracey having no recollection of them. It could give her the appearance of being mentally deficient in some way. However, her good grades, strong work ethic, and consistent successes belie any intelligence problems. As Tracey writes her story, she gives the reader advance understanding of situations that she did not have the luxury of knowing while she was living them. As difficult as I found the story to read, I found it equally difficult to put down. I had to know the outcome of Tracey's story.
Overall, I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I cannot give it a 4-star rating, as there is an apparent formatting problem. I was reading a pdf version on my iPod, which I understand sometimes formats material incorrectly, but several sections appear to have been copy/pasted into the wrong place, making for somewhat of a jarring reading experience now and then. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a glimpse into PTSD or dissociative memory loss, as well as to anyone wishing to see how the KKK operates in modern times. The KKK no longer goes around in white sheets burning crosses in front yards, but this does not mean the KKK no longer exists. I would not recommend Undeterred for young readers. Neither would I recommend it without adequate forewarning for readers who may struggle with PTSD in any format.
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Undeterred
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