Broken Places

A Memoir of Abuse

Non-Fiction - Memoir
124 Pages
Reviewed on 10/14/2015
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Author Biography

Rachel Thompson is the author of four award-winning books published by Booktrope where she directs the Gravity imprint helping authors share their stories of trauma and recovery. She founded BadRedhead Media, a company designed to create effective social media and book marketing campaigns for authors. Her articles appear regularly in The Huffington Post, The San Francisco Book Review, and BookPromotion.com. Rachel hates walks in the rain, running out of coffee, and coconut. She lives in California with her family.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Barbara Fanson for Readers' Favorite

Broken Places by Rachel Thompson is a very descriptive, well-written memoir of abuse. Broken Places is a collection of non-fiction essays, short stories, and poetry. Author Rachel Thompson has a well-developed vocabulary for describing one of the worst experiences of her life — sexual abuse at the hands of her pedophile neighbor. She has no trouble describing the horrible kiss, his breath, and his invasion. The most powerful part is halfway through the book when Rachel Thompson describes the actual event. She describes how he got her away from the other children and took advantage of her. And even after the trial, after he goes to jail, after he dies, and she moves far away, she still can’t forget the event.

Broken Places is a self-help book for both the author and other victims of sexual abuse. Author Rachel Thompson discusses some of the side effects of sexual abuse and how it affects her years later, as an adult. This book would be helpful for other victims in understanding that they were innocent and it wasn’t their fault. It may also help to understand the effects the trauma may have on them later in life. Broken Places should help other people realize that they don’t have to be ashamed or embarrassed by what happened. It’s hard to understand how a male adult could take advantage of a child; he should have known better. Broken Places includes a list of resources for victims of sexual abuse. As a bonus, a part of Rachel Thompson’s other book Broken Pieces has been included at the back.