Living Dead Girlby Elizabeth Scott is a disturbing book. Alice was abducted by Ray when she was 10 and has been living as his child sexual slave for the last 5 years. She has been beaten and raped and reminded daily that if she tries to escape, Ray will find her and will return to her childhood home and murder her parents. Now that she is 15, Alice knows that Ray is tiring of her, because she cannot stay a girl-child forever, and soon he will kill her as he did to the Alice he had before her. But then he makes an unusual request – Alice must help him find a new little girl to belong to him – and maybe he will let her live. Desperate to escape the physical and emotional abuse, Alice turns her attention to a local playground and a little girl who would be perfect for Ray’s appetites.
Scott creates a compelling and horrific world in this short novel. While not explicit in detail, enough description of the rapes, torture, and abuse is provided that the reader can feel Alice’s pain and torture. Alice has been brainwashed and broken by Ray and her memories of the early days when he made her into “Alice” are woven in with her present situation and the thought of finding another little girl who can bear the burden of Ray’s love & obsession. Watching her hunt for the new “Alice” is frightening because it is juxtaposed against her complete victimization, and I was torn between compassion, pain and loathing as I read. I longed for Alice to escape but was horrified that it might come at the cost of either hers or another young girl’s life.
Living Dead Girl is definitely a high-school only book, and even then it may be too graphic for some readers. This is a powerful story that was hard to put down and will be hard to forget.
- Posted by Cori