A Space For Expression and Introspection
A Space To Be Determined.
A Space To Be Determined.
His Favorites by Kate Walbert is a coming-of-age novel that asks for someone, anyone, to listen. Told from the perspective of lead character Jo, as an adult, the novel dives into her trauma head on, avoiding any bushes to beat around. For the entirety of the novel, Jo is detailing her experiences to a detective in an effort to try and heal. Desperate for someone to believe her, “This is not a story I’ve told before. No one would believe me. I mean, really believe me,” (His Favorites, pg.3) Jo is telling her story for the first time in full. We learn that her trauma has been mounting on her shoulders ever since she was a teen. And we also learn throughout that she has been neglected during that same span. In the early pages of the novel, it is revealed that she accidentally kills her best friend while they were hanging out one night. Her mother’s response was too move her away from what happened and try to move on with distance, instead of words. The problem with this was that it didn’t provide Jo with an outlet to express her true feelings. Thus, her emotions and her stories of grief are ignored. Later on, she is abused by a perverted school teacher. One of his many victims, yet he seemed to like her a bit more than the rest it seemed given the title. When Jo talks with her friend and succeeding builds up the courage to speak on her abuser, her story is tossed into a patriarchal shredder and erased. Her story isn’t believed, and her feelings are disregarded, although this time being way more mal-intended. By the end of the novel, Walbert asks readers to grapple with the idea that Jo’s story still isn’t believed, and that her feelings still aren’t regarded. It’s a stark reflection.
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Trey BrownA creative-writing major at Wright State with a particular interest in motion pictures. Archives
April 2019
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