Telling: A Memoir of Rape and Recovery

First off, this book is about far more than one person's experience with a violent assault and the complex after effects in the labyrinth of the human heart. This is a compelling, powerful, and elegantly honest memoir of love, parenting, justice (and injustice), healing, fairy tales, poetry, personal exploration and development, finding one's self in myths, and how trauma can lead to transformation. Overall, it's an astonishingly beautifully written and wise memoir that does what only the greatest art accomplishes: It takes the dark and difficult threads of experience and weaves them into something radiant, wise, and uplifting.I connected with this book in many more ways than I expected to—learning from Patricia Francisco's generously described process of recovery. Although I'm not a survivor of rape myself, I think anyone who's experienced trauma and loss will be able to relate to and learn from Francisco's story. After all, one doesn't need to go to war to learn a great deal from a war story. And one doesn't need to experience rape to gain a great deal from a story like this. In fact, one of the greatest things literature does is expand our perceptions and understanding of others (which is why I hope more men will read books like this). I also greatly enjoyed the warmth of Francisco's honest, lyrical prose, and the connections she makes in her chapters between story-telling and personal experience.I highly recommend this book for all humans—but most especially for people like myself who might normally avoid a memoir about rape.

Patricia Weaver Francisco edited my novel, Perceval's Secret. At the time, I bought her memoir but didn't get a chance to read it until the last two weeks. Wow. This is a powerful, powerful book.Her descriptions of her PTSD captured the essential emotion, the disorientation at times, the dissociation. If you have ever wondered what PTSD is or how it affects people, Francisco shows what it is and how it affected her. I loved her description of time as being a circle, too. PTSD can be triggered again years later if an issue or memory has not been completely processed.The description of her rape does not begin the memoir and I thought that was a wise decision. We first get to know her a little before she hits us with the life-changing event. I was struck by her memory of her dissociation and the accuracy of the description. The human mind has a wonderful collection of coping mechanisms that help us survive and dissociation is one of them. Her immediate post-rape reactions were wrenching to read making me think of how true to reality they were.The long chapter toward the end, "Justice," is also wrenching at times, but gave me a lot of insight into Francisco's thought processes and what insights she gained from the experience of observing the trial of a serial rapist.One point that comes up over and over in this book is how few books there are about women's experience with rape. It takes a lot of courage, of fearlessness to write about an experience that is both violent and intimate at the same time. Francisco shatters all the myths about rape, too.I highly recommend this book, especially for men to read (especially older men still influenced by outdated beliefs about rape), and rape survivors who feel alone. You are not alone.

Patricia Weaver Francisco writes eloquently about her horrific rape and extended period of grieving, mixed in with balance and grace. in the midst of trauma, Francisco feels gratitude for the loving support of her husband, family and other loved ones. Her description of the “tragedy” of the demise of her marriage cut right through me. Exquisite writing.

Was poorly written in my opinion. It was difficult to read and therefore I just didn't even bother finish. Wasn't captivating or good storytelling.

This was a first edition I received. Hardcover from 1999 I believe. For being old, it was in great condition. No stains or wrinkles. It had a slight rip on the jacket..but no big. As soon as I started reading I knew itd be insanely emotional. I found it took me an hour to read two pages. I hate therapy. I hate crying. Im not that girl. So after 5 years of misery, I decided to finally seek help for my serious anger issues. Im a mean, woman. Im way too young to be so mad. I figured reading about someone elses experience would help a great deal. I was right. I was amazed that another human being thought the same things as me. What hit me hard was when Patricia wrote about mourning the death of her former self. I feel like she and I might have the same mind! I recommend this book to anybody. Any gender. Any age. Anyone who needs it.

Beautifully written, unbelievably when you consider what happened to this lovely lady. Hard to read at times but MUST be read because turning our backs on true life accounts of rape will never help to make us understand why they happen and how we can stop them happening.

This book is a very moving account of the authors horrendous experience of rape .It is a valuable book yet also difficult at times to read. I feel privilaged to read something so personal and admire any woman who is brave enough to write such a book .

Haunting in her methodical and open account of rape. Written over a 15 year period, following the course of her marriage after the rape, the birth of their son, all manner of therapies, even attending court to witness the trial and conviction of another rapist. Beautiful and eloquent.