Sad Tiger

The U.S. debut from French writer Sinno blends autobiography and literary criticism for a staggering portrait of her rapist. Neige chronicles how her stepfather began raping her when she was seven. Along the way, she attempts to understand the mind of a child rapist, which, unlike the mind of a victim, is “beyond comprehension.” Her mother dated the “tall, athletic, personable” man, who goes unnamed, for just a few weeks in 1983 before moving in with him—along with Neige and her younger sister, Rose—in a cramped basement apartment. Neige remembers how during that time, she tried to hold her pee in for as long as she could in the mornings to avoid getting out of bed and attracting her stepfather’s attention after her mother left for work. She wasn’t sure his assaults qualified as rape until she was 12, when he penetrated her for the first time, and she felt oddly joyful to finally know what was happening to her. The accounts from his eventual 2000 trial for raping her are especially gut-wrenching as Neige comes to realize he was attracted by “the purest innocence.” Sinno’s prose is equal parts raw and lucid, and it’s enriched by fascinating readings of the sexual abuse depicted in Lolita and other works of literature. This is brilliant. (Apr.)