Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore (#32 in 2020)
The day after Valentine's Day in 1976, 14-year-old Gloria Ramirez escapes from a violent sexual assault. She runs to the nearest house, which happens to be the home of Mary Rose, pregnant and with her own young daughter. After arrests are made and a court date has been set, the people of Odessa, Texas pre-form their opinions on Gloria's attacker's level of guilt. Unfortunately, many look past his actions because of Gloria's heritage, creating a "gray area" in which violence is overlooked when the victim's race is called into question.
The setting is something that can only be experienced by actually reading this book. There is absolutely no way I can accurately convey the raw, artistic language Wetmore uses to depict Odessa, Texas in 1976. I think I had such a difficult time starting the review for this book because I wasn’t sure I could do the book justice.
While the central conflict is that of Gloria's rape and of Mary Rose's role in her rescue, other characters also work their way to the forefront. As the perspective shifts between females of various ages, the reader begins to see a much bigger portrait of how gender, race, and class play a role in the course of events. Each varying perspective is female, and each is a warrior all her own proving the power of the feminine spirit.
I read some reviews in which readers felt that there were too many characters and didn't understand the importance of some, but trust that each character's role is crucial to the bigger picture. Corinne, a depressed widow, and Debra Ann, a 10-year-old abandoned by her mother, share a special bond that develops as the plot moves. Debra Ann's character acts as a foil to Gloria's as she secretly finds herself befriending a male drifter with the trust that he won't hurt her. Debra Ann is so reminiscent of Scout Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird), and the innocence this child still has, amidst a community consumed by the topic of danger, reminded me so much of that timeless classic. At the same time, Corinne is almost a foil to Mary Rose as both women deal with their depression and trauma in vastly different ways.
Valentine is profound, it's moving, and it's the embodiment of catharsis from the first step Gloria takes after her attack to the very last word. Don't expect to speed-read this book; it's one you'll want to absorb and contemplate as you go. Valentine is a book I STILL cannot stop thinking about and one that will likely become a modern classic. 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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