Secondary Character Saturday (10)

I've started a new weekly meme here and I'd love for you to join me. Saturdays are now dedicated to honor the characters that don't always get their voices heard, who support (or work to destroy) our beloved protagonists. This is for the third wheel in the love triangle (can you have wheels on a triangle?), for the BFFs, the family members, or even just the kind and loving (or deceitful and creepy) stranger who shows up and changes the game. We all know these stories wouldn't hold up without support so I'd like to take the time to highlight the best secondary characters I come across. This is an opportunity to talk about what makes these characters special, maybe to speculate what their world would be like without them, or maybe cast them in their own primary roles. If you'd like to create a SCS post leave your link in the comments and I'll check it out!

So today it's all about:

Georgia from Bitter End

This book affected me quite a bit - if you want more on that read my review. But it was the parts with Georgia that really broke me down. If you haven't read Bitter End, it's about a girl in an abusive relationship. Her mother is dead, her father is distant, and she's isolated from her friends. So Georgia becomes very important in Alex's life. She's her boss, but she's the closest thing Alex has to a mother figure.

It was through Georgia that I really related to the story. I've always worked for families and I've always felt a little like a part of those families. But when I was at school, I worked at a coffee shop. I worked for this amazing woman and she became my mother away from home. She was always caring, she took time to know what was going on with me, she always offered advice, and more than once she voiced her concern when I was hanging around with the wrong boys. So I recognized the importance of Georgia's role in Alex's story.

Since Alex was so isolated, it was easy to see how she got inside her own head and rationalized the violence and anger in her relationship. It was easy to put up a haze around those incidents and give them dream-like qualities. But when she's around Georgia, who can see through her veils and who is able to listen when Alex decides to talk, she makes it real. And then it became devastating.

I just hope that everyone has a Georgia in their life. Whether you need a Georgia or not, she's always a good person to have. It's beautiful when someone cares for you that much, with no strings attached. 

Bitter End - Jennifer Brown

Synopsis: When Alex falls for the charming new boy at school, Cole -- a handsome, funny, sports star who adores her -- she can't believe she's finally found her soul mate . . . someone who truly loves and understands her.
At first, Alex is blissfully happy. Sure, Cole seems a little jealous of her relationship with her close friend Zack, but what guy would want his girlfriend spending all her time with another boy? As the months pass, though, Alex can no longer ignore Cole's small put-downs, pinches, or increasingly violent threats.
As Alex struggles to come to terms with the sweet boyfriend she fell in love with and the boyfriend whose "love" she no longer recognizes, she is forced to choose -- between her "true love" and herself. (From Goodreads)

I read this book knowing before hand that it was going to rip me to shreds. I don't know why I put myself through things like this, but I always feel a little different when I read these intensely powerful books. And I do feel different after reading this one. It seems like a new beginning, after enduring something hard - even if it wasn't actually happening to me.

I don't know why, but my number one fear is getting into an abusive relationship. There's no logical explanation for this fear - I've never felt unsafe and I've never actually seen much violence. I just can't stand the thought of someone that you love and trust taking away your power and your control.

I hesitate to even say that this book is amazing, because it feels a little wrong to put out examples of abuse and say - hey this is great. But I will say that this book is strong. It's a story that carries a heavy weight, but Jennifer Brown doesn't ever make her readers wade through psychological pain and drama. It begins with Alex before Cole, goes through meeting him, falling in love, and then finding herself becoming isolated and her control slowly leeched away from her. Alex is a strong and beautiful character. It's easy to see an abused woman and incredulously wonder why she doesn't fight back, or leave. But I never felt that way with Alex. Brown follows her mental status through the whole thing and you can see the way her mind becomes altered between her emotions and physical abuse.

When reading about abuse, the focus always seems to be on the girl. But I couldn't help wondering through this book - what goes through the abuser's head? Do they choose a certain type of girl? Or is it just whoever seems to come into their path? Do they see that she has friends and family and actively think - I need to get rid of them? Do they hit and then think - oh, I better do something nice to keep her around? I've never really thought of these things, but for some reason I was yearning to get into Cole's head so I could analyze and understand his actions.

I think the reason this book was so effective in breaking me down was Brown's incredible portrayal of Alex's interior process. I found myself getting upset with her friends for abandoning her - even though it makes perfect sense why they do. I was frustrated with her father and sister for giving Alex reasons for finding solace elsewhere. And I was thoroughly shocked that I was able to distance the actual abuse, as if it was happening somewhere else. It was when people said things that indicated they knew something was going on, or Alex actually talked about it out loud, that it became real. I couldn't believe I hadn't felt that intensity when it was happening, but only when others saw it as well. When the people who cared about her became involved, I lost it. Alex is a strong character, but the people who can pick you up when that strength is tested are just as important.

I don't know how others will react. My reactions were intense and emotional because of my own fears. Even so, Brown has an impressive skill for dealing with a touchy subject. She is a wonderful writer, and I'm going to pick up Hate List as soon as I can and I'm definitely anticipating Perfect Escape, out in July. Based off Bitter End, I believe she has a talent for telling the stories that need to be told, to be heard.