Review of The Price of Worthlessness
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Akuvi Kafui Akpawu
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Review of The Price of Worthlessness
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Price of Worthlessness" by Gloria Eveleigh.]
Author: The author is Gloria Eveleigh. She is from south London (United Kingdom). She worked as a research scientist, before working as a social worker and becoming a writer. Some of her books have won multiple awards. She's a Christian and openly shares, that she was also a victim of abuse. She believes that breaking the silence will prevent 'protecting the abuser', which is why she also encourages people to talk about it more publicly.
Title: The Price of Worthlessness.
The genre of this book, The Price of Worthlessness, is other fiction. The main character of this book is Petra. Petra who is a 14 year old girl, has an older sister of 17 years of age, named Ann. She also has a younger brother named Tim, that is 7 years old. She lives with her family in Littlehampton. She seems to get along with her parents. Petra is not into dating boys yet, however she gets curious and wonders if she will ever have a boyfriend, because her sister Ann keeps talking about her boyfriends. Thus, she is delighted when Mr. Ahmed (the teacher, from her netball practice), takes a sudden interest in her and suggests to set Petra on a date with his friend Marvin. She grabs the opportunity and without asking prior questions, meets Marvin who is 28 years old, for the first time on a date. Unlike her sister Ann, she decides to keep her relationship with Marvin a secret. Marvin also encourages her to keep their secret, she then starts to lie to her family and everyone else. She also gets attached to Marvin and falls in love with him. After a while, she trusts him completely and accepts to go to his place one day. She also believes him, when he tells her that he loves her. Pressured by him, she gives him her virginity. At his place, he pressures her again to drink and take drugs.
She continues to lie to everyone, and later things take a sour turn. She quickly starts to regret all the lies she's been telling and the secrets that she's been keeping. What happened? Was she betrayed by Marvin? Does she end up confessing everything to her parents? Or does she continue living this double life? Does Marvin ever get caught for his intercourse with a minor? Does anyone suspect anything? Is she able to find help on time? Is there a happy ending? Find out by reading, The Price of Worthlessness.
Some of the positive aspects that I found in The Price of Worthlessness, was that the narrative is exciting (but in a sad way). The events are quite unexpected. It's easy to get attached to the main character Petra, and feel compassion for her loss of innocence. At such a young age, it is hard to picture what else she could have done to avoid such evil. I also think it was wise, that the official review mentions the topics that would be covered in the book (even if it tells us, what is going to happen). That way, the reader is already prepared and knows ahead of time, that some content might shock the reader. I also agree with the author, and think that breaking the silence is a good thing, as well as promoting awareness. I also think that the title was well chosen.
There aren't a lot of things, that I disliked about this book. This book reminds me of a book I had to read in French class. The book was called 'Candide' from Voltaire. Similarly in Candide, the main character is named Candide and is overly optimistic and has no idea of how evil the world can get. He constantly remains surprised when bad things happen and women get raped and abused.
Overall, I would give a very good rating of 5 out of 5 stars. I definitely would recommend reading The Price of Worthlessness, not for personal enjoyment, but more for awareness, like Candide, we shouldn't be too optimistic and assume everything will go well, especially when it comes to kids. And unfortunately, a lot of things still remain hidden and a lot of crimes go unpunished. Thus, this book would also be appropriate for 13 and above.
******
The Price of Worthlessness
View: on Bookshelves
Author: The author is Gloria Eveleigh. She is from south London (United Kingdom). She worked as a research scientist, before working as a social worker and becoming a writer. Some of her books have won multiple awards. She's a Christian and openly shares, that she was also a victim of abuse. She believes that breaking the silence will prevent 'protecting the abuser', which is why she also encourages people to talk about it more publicly.
Title: The Price of Worthlessness.
The genre of this book, The Price of Worthlessness, is other fiction. The main character of this book is Petra. Petra who is a 14 year old girl, has an older sister of 17 years of age, named Ann. She also has a younger brother named Tim, that is 7 years old. She lives with her family in Littlehampton. She seems to get along with her parents. Petra is not into dating boys yet, however she gets curious and wonders if she will ever have a boyfriend, because her sister Ann keeps talking about her boyfriends. Thus, she is delighted when Mr. Ahmed (the teacher, from her netball practice), takes a sudden interest in her and suggests to set Petra on a date with his friend Marvin. She grabs the opportunity and without asking prior questions, meets Marvin who is 28 years old, for the first time on a date. Unlike her sister Ann, she decides to keep her relationship with Marvin a secret. Marvin also encourages her to keep their secret, she then starts to lie to her family and everyone else. She also gets attached to Marvin and falls in love with him. After a while, she trusts him completely and accepts to go to his place one day. She also believes him, when he tells her that he loves her. Pressured by him, she gives him her virginity. At his place, he pressures her again to drink and take drugs.
She continues to lie to everyone, and later things take a sour turn. She quickly starts to regret all the lies she's been telling and the secrets that she's been keeping. What happened? Was she betrayed by Marvin? Does she end up confessing everything to her parents? Or does she continue living this double life? Does Marvin ever get caught for his intercourse with a minor? Does anyone suspect anything? Is she able to find help on time? Is there a happy ending? Find out by reading, The Price of Worthlessness.
Some of the positive aspects that I found in The Price of Worthlessness, was that the narrative is exciting (but in a sad way). The events are quite unexpected. It's easy to get attached to the main character Petra, and feel compassion for her loss of innocence. At such a young age, it is hard to picture what else she could have done to avoid such evil. I also think it was wise, that the official review mentions the topics that would be covered in the book (even if it tells us, what is going to happen). That way, the reader is already prepared and knows ahead of time, that some content might shock the reader. I also agree with the author, and think that breaking the silence is a good thing, as well as promoting awareness. I also think that the title was well chosen.
There aren't a lot of things, that I disliked about this book. This book reminds me of a book I had to read in French class. The book was called 'Candide' from Voltaire. Similarly in Candide, the main character is named Candide and is overly optimistic and has no idea of how evil the world can get. He constantly remains surprised when bad things happen and women get raped and abused.
Overall, I would give a very good rating of 5 out of 5 stars. I definitely would recommend reading The Price of Worthlessness, not for personal enjoyment, but more for awareness, like Candide, we shouldn't be too optimistic and assume everything will go well, especially when it comes to kids. And unfortunately, a lot of things still remain hidden and a lot of crimes go unpunished. Thus, this book would also be appropriate for 13 and above.
******
The Price of Worthlessness
View: on Bookshelves
Latest Review: Alaska Deadly by J.L. Askew
