Still Loved by the Sun: A Rape Survivor's Journal

This memoir of a brutal sexual assault and its aftermath should be gripping, but its oddly dreamy tone ultimately leaves readers wondering what happens to rape survivors who, unlike the author, do not have a loving husband, a circle of caring friends, understanding police investigators and an income that permits lots of vacations to try and forget the attack. Scherer, a technical writer, was almost killed in 1988 during an assault in a Seattle laundromat. The crime shattered her feelings of security and self-worth, damaged her ability to concentrate and interrupted a seemingly idyllic existence on a boat with her husband. Scherer later spotted her attacker and had him arrested. She takes readers through the trial, winding up with a chronicle of her post-verdict period of adjustment. Her description of her attacker is vivid, but the book is short on details about the trial and long on descriptions of all the hugs Scherer got during and after it. Nonetheless, her account is of interest for its depiction of a woman who was psychically undermined by a violent sexual attack. (Aug.)