Living Dead Girl

ISBN-13: 9781416960591
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: September 2008
170pgs

From the blurb:

When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends - her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over.

Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her.

This is Alice's story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget.

First of all, the protagonist's name is not Alice. Alice is just a name given by her captor, Ray. Ray gave her this name because there used to be another Alice before her; she was perfect in his eyes until she had decided to run away. Ray had no choice but to kill her.

The narrator (as known as the 'current' Alice) had been under Ray's captive since she was ten. She was abducted during a field trip when she was left on her own. She is fifteen now; and throughout these years she had been nothing but a 'good' girl to Ray. She knew there is no way of escaping and if she does, Ray will burn down her parents' house. Alice believes he is capable of doing so; thus she lives her life as if she is a living dead girl, for her heart is already numbed and long dead. Though she feels hopeless, she also knows that time is running out for her as she could not remain as Ray's little girl forever as the days passed, for one day Ray will go out and look for another girl to replace her role and everything will start again like a cycle.

Living Dead Girl is not an easy read, based on the plot but it haunts and intrigues you at the same time. Although there is nothing graphic about the abuse in this story, Elizabeth Scott manages to pull you into the story and make you feel as if you are entering into the narrator's mind and experience her pain and hopelessness. You would wish you could tear Ray into shreds, because that was how I felt throughout reading the book. I have great admiration in Elizabeth Scott's way of writing in putting the sentences simply but yet you could still feel the power (and the hopelessness) in them. Here are some of the examples:

"Once upon a time, that moment was when a little girl's world ended."

"Never grow up. Like something out of a story, maybe. Try saying it while a hot, heavy hand pinches, testing to make sure you're still child enough. Try saying it when you can't grow, when you're forever trapped where someone else wants you to be."

"I have been smashed and put back together so many times nothing works right. Nothing is where it should be, heavy thumping in my shoulder where my heart now beats."

I could not foresee the narrator's future until there is a turning towards the end. And this is where I saw some hope in her and got to know her real name.

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