Utopia by Unathi Ndlelantle Ngada is not an easy read. It is dark and at times hateful, but it is one that everyone male and female should read. This book opens up the world of child sexual abuse from the perspective of the one being abused and lays out the complicated and competing mixed emotions that inhabit the mind of someone so abused.
Kai was first sexually abused by her Uncle when she was just ten years old. As time went on, Kai managed to forgive her Uncle Bryan for his abuse and her Aunt Numa, who Kai was certain knew exactly what was going on. After all, Bryan and Numa had cared for Kai ever since the death of her mother, so surely she owed them some loyalty, didn't she?
When the abuse restarts years later, as a young woman, Kai determines that Uncle Bryan and Aunt Numa can not be allowed to get away with their treatment of her. Kai has fallen in love with an artist she first met when she was just fourteen and it is time for her to escape her dark thoughts and to strike out in her own way, free from the nightmares of her past.
Utopia, although very intense is short and sharp. Its story grabs the reader by the scruff of the neck, shakes the complacency out of you and makes you pay attention to the world of hell that Kai finds herself inhabiting, due to no fault of her own, just the malicious, uncaring abuse of her body by the man who is supposed to protect her, her uncle.
Ngada's writing is as intense as the story and drags the reader in. As I said at the beginning, this is not an easy book to read emotionally, but one well worth making the effort for. We all need to understand better the hell that victims of sexual abuse and trauma go through. I can only hope that Ngada's next literary effort is a little lighter and more fun. An important read!
Kai was first sexually abused by her Uncle when she was just ten years old. As time went on, Kai managed to forgive her Uncle Bryan for his abuse and her Aunt Numa, who Kai was certain knew exactly what was going on. After all, Bryan and Numa had cared for Kai ever since the death of her mother, so surely she owed them some loyalty, didn't she?
When the abuse restarts years later, as a young woman, Kai determines that Uncle Bryan and Aunt Numa can not be allowed to get away with their treatment of her. Kai has fallen in love with an artist she first met when she was just fourteen and it is time for her to escape her dark thoughts and to strike out in her own way, free from the nightmares of her past.
Utopia, although very intense is short and sharp. Its story grabs the reader by the scruff of the neck, shakes the complacency out of you and makes you pay attention to the world of hell that Kai finds herself inhabiting, due to no fault of her own, just the malicious, uncaring abuse of her body by the man who is supposed to protect her, her uncle.
Ngada's writing is as intense as the story and drags the reader in. As I said at the beginning, this is not an easy book to read emotionally, but one well worth making the effort for. We all need to understand better the hell that victims of sexual abuse and trauma go through. I can only hope that Ngada's next literary effort is a little lighter and more fun. An important read!
You can take a look at Utopia by Unathi Ngada, here on Amazon:
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