Innocence

by Jane Mendelsohn

Bookseller Reviews

A strong novel by author of I Am Amelia Earhart. Though only fourteen years-old, Becket leads a life that most would daunt most adults. Living with her widowed father in New York City, she sees herself perpetually on the edge of the world she surveys; an outsider peering in at cynical teachers and the in-crowd Beautiful Girls. Drawn to an omnipotent school nurse in a way she can't quite understand, Becket cobbles together a flickering social circle characterized more by shared alienation than by common interests. Uncertain, yet self-contained, she moves from little nightmare to little nightmare without setting off adult sirens. Teens know this toughness.

Genres: Fiction, Horror, Young Adult, Fantasy, Vampires, Gothic, Literary Fiction

199 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 2000

About the author

Jane Mendelsohn was born and raised in New York City. She is a graduate of Yale.

She is the author of three novels: the best-selling I Was Amelia Earhart, shortlisted for the Orange Prize, and Innocence, and American Music. Published to wide acclaim by Knopf in 2010, American Music is now out in paperback from Vintage.

Reviews

[Naksed · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a strange little book. A combination of Rosemary's Baby and Suspiria. I like how creative and very open-ended it is, leaving the readers to make their own conclusions about what really transpired, what is illusion and what is reality. Good little horror show if that strikes your mood.

[Chy · Rating 3 out of 5]

All right, I vowed not to do this sort of thing until after the year was up, but I’m going to tell you how I came upon this book. Because I think it’s pertinent to my opinion and this review. I bought this at Goodwill. It’s a hardback with no dust jacket—nothing to tell me what it was about. It’s about diary-sized, which appealed to me. I flipped through it and the format made me wince, which for some reason, is something else that appealed to me. Lastly, the author’s name reminds me of Gregor Mendel, which is a name I heard constantly in college and even had to teach to others.

The point is, I had no idea what this book would be about. By the title, I was certain it would have little to do with innocence. I can’t believe I didn’t know right off the bat it was a story for young adults. Yeah, well. What can I say? I’m slow.

Anyway, plot recap, that’s what we were doing. So you got this high school girl named Beckett and she’s just moved to a new school. Here, she learns girls have a high tendency to die. Beckett herself meets the school nurse early on and that school nurse ends up marrying her dad. In hindsight, this is all very suspicious, but as I was reading, I was too caught up in the vivid imagery to worry about anything as rudimentary as plot.

It took me totally by surprise when Beckett decided her stepmother was a vampire and that her little coven of vampires gave pills to girls that made their periods heavier so they could—yeah, that. No, really. That’s seriously what Beckett would have you believe the story’s about.

Is that what the story’s about? Now that I’ve read the whole thing, hell if I know.


And I’ll tell you what I really think:

Scenery/Setting: This was awesome. I mean, rich and colorful. I could taste it and feel it on my skin.

Outside, it was one of those sunsets that nobody looks at, a red and orange and purple massacre, spilling its guts out above the city. I don’t understand why nobody notices. Those sunsets, they bleed all over.

That’s just in the first couple of pages. It does good to show that maybe Beckett isn’t the most reliable narrator. That is, if you know anything about people with a tendency toward mental illness. But then, you could also blame this effect on the author. So, not only do we have an unreliable narrator, but an unreliable writer of that unreliable narrator.

It's gorgeous. Even though one possible plot makes me roll my eyes and the other possible plot makes me grimace, the scenery and setting in this young adult book was enough to make me sit down and finish it in a day. I loved living in a world so rich, even if I didn’t really like what may or may not have been going on around me.

Characters: For Mendelsohn’s purposes, Beckett is A+ superb. I still don’t know whether I believe her or not. I know that in the tiny prelude, she made a plea that the reader know this wasn’t a delusion, that it was real. My heart went out to her; I wanted to believe her before I ever flipped to the first page.

Beckett is the color of the book. And she colors all the other characters, which actually works pretty damn good for this novel. In most first-person pieces, I feel like I can form my own opinion of the characters around the POV character, despite what the POV character thinks of them. Beckett didn’t really give me a chance to do that. The other people were who she thought they were. And that was that. It’s not something I’d enjoy more than once, but it worked well for me here.

I also like this approach because, upon looking back, I can see how these people might have been through my eyes rather than Beckett’s. Sort of. It all depends on what story I decided was true.

Plot: Which one? Okay, first, let’s pretend that Beckett’s reliable. If that’s true, then she’s moved to a town where the head of a coven of vampires is the school nurse. This nurse doles out medication to girls that makes them beautiful and that makes them bleed heavily during that special week of a woman’s menstrual cycle. How do the vampires get this blood? Why, they steal tampons and sanitary napkins.

Ew. That’s a really horrible, horrible plot. This is where it gets hard for me because Mendelsohn made me feel so much sympathy for Beckett that I really, really want to believe her. But if I believe her, I have to believe this horrible plot. And I have to ignore all the clues that say I shouldn’t believe her, and I really don’t think I can do that.

I said something about the format before, but this is where I wanted to talk about it. First of all, the format is choppy. There are lots of breaks and no real sense of why some of those breaks are there. There are also no quotation marks for dialogue. It’s just straight text. It takes getting used to, but I found that by the end of the first conversation, I had no problem picking out what was spoken from what was narration. And this style lends toward Beckett being totally unreliable.

You see, it gives the feel that it’s all “in her head.” There’s also one scene in the book that makes it almost impossible for me to trust Beckett’s story.

The whole thing is told in first person, except for this one scene. Or so it seems. In that scene, a stranger in a pizza shop attacks Beckett’s friend. Beckett’s not there, though. (Right?) We see it and we even get to know what that friend is thinking now and then. But even his thoughts could be the fantasy of the woman who attacks him—a woman who Beckett later believes to be her stepmother.

Problem is, the chick who attacked that person is in a pretty heavy disguise—all sunglasses and bright lipstick. And later, Beckett’s stepmom says something about finding Beckett in her closet, trying on her clothes one night, that night.

This is the scene that makes me shake my head in pity at Beckett. Unreliable narrators irritate the ever-living shit out of me (in the very, very best way). I was glad to find out the whole thing wasn’t about pad-sucking vampires.

Ah. I suppose I have decided which plot I believe.

It is a nifty effect, though. And not one I think I could pull off. Mendelsohn did good. Way good.

Overall: The imagery and style made this book for me. I didn’t particularly enjoy Beckett’s delusions or even what was really going on, but the way it all unraveled was mesmerizing. Upon closing the book, I realize Beckett wasn’t telling a story—I was in Beckett’s head. And no matter how much I think it wasn’t the place for me, I have to admit that she made me feel at home there. I didn’t want to leave. Even when I knew she was lying to me. I could forgive her because she was lying to herself in order to lie to me.

It’s a very neat effect. That and the imagery made this book extremely useful. Those things make it a must read in my mind, even if it’s not any kind of grand addition to “literature.”

The lingering questions: Okay, just because it didn’t happen, does that mean it wasn’t real?

[stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the worst book I have ever read. I'm more ashamed to have this on my shelf than Twilight, and I think that speaks volumes. At least this book came out BEFORE vampires were cool. I wish I could give this book negative stars while simultaneously burning down the Barnes & Noble where I found it on the clearance table. I was book-poor and money-poor back then. Thank goodness I don't have to read trash like this anymore. Everything is completely horrible in this book. The characters, the plot, the surprise twist, the even more surprising twist. Please, never read this book, and discourage strangers and even enemies from reading it.

[snowplum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, Jane Mendelsohn. Very rarely would I pity a person her imagination, as imaginations seem to be hard to cultivate and treat properly over the course of a lifetime, and much more deservedly a source of admiration or envy than sympathy or discomfiture. But upon reading Innocence, I pitied you yours.

Vampires' drink of choice to maintain eternal life/youth is the menstrual blood of virgins? Yes I suppose I can believe it (though does it really need to be their menstrual blood as opposed to any of their blood?); but seriously, did you have to think that, and, upon thinking it, share it with the rest of us? Apparently your answer to this question and mine are slightly different. And by slightly, I mean entirely.

Once a reader gets past this highly unpalatable concept (with the descriptions that occasionally accompany it... Seriously, Jane, the tampon tea bags? No. Just, NO), the book is pretty good. But how many readers are going to get past that or think it's worth getting past? Not enough to build your reputation as a fantastic voice in contemporary American literature, as the last ten years have proven.

But for the sake of fairness, I will discuss other flaws and merits of this book detached as I am able from the alienating subject matter.

The best thing about this book is the prose, hands down, no debate. Here you see echo after echo of the brilliance of I Was Amelia Earhart. This is still the distinctive voice of an author with a gift with words -- choices that no one else would ever think to make, put together with a rhythm and cadence like glorious music.

Beyond that, there's an Idea that I find fascinating. Not, in fact, the idea that Mendelsohn emphasizes of the Final Girl (the girl in traditional horror stories and scary fantasies who survives the longest to be most aware of the True Nature of Things and who has to find a way to survive, though I think that's a pretty interesting idea). The Idea I would single out is one about storytelling that leads to a really unique first-person narrator. We're all familiar with the idea of unreliable narrators, but Beckett (Mendelson's perhaps too-clever but believably smart-ass nickname for her postmodern heroine, Rebecca) is something else entirely -- a narrator who keeps, to profound effect, secrets from the reader. Secrets that this real girl would want to keep and try to keep if she were telling you this story. Because, as she says, they are hers. When I reached that point in the story, I cheered out loud.

But. This book also fits sadly into the middle of the overall downward trajectory from Amelia to American Music, Mendelsohn's far less lively and inspired third novel. While there is still some sense of magic in the craft remaining here, some peerless invention and inspiration in the prose, there is also an awful lot of Trying Too Hard to be postmodern and clever. The book is glaringly self-conscious most of the time, almost always to its detriment. It's not just a reflection of a teenage girl narrator's own self-consciousness. It's the author's unease with her subject matter and worrying about whether the book is Serious Book enough coloring the story and how it's told. When you discover how much more self-conscious and contrived American Music is, it's easy to see that Mendelsohn has become crippled by doubt and fear that she can't live up to the fearless freedom of Amelia Earhart.

I know some authors (and songwriters and painters) lose their magic as they get older. Their greatest work is their first because it's so much more passionate and unfiltered than their "mature" works, a product of what is left of their childhood wonder and their adolescent feelings on overdrive. I hope that is not the case with Mendelsohn. I hope she is still fundamentally the woman who wrote I Was Amelia Earhart and who can trust herself, trust her readers, and relax enough to find the freedom to write that way again.

I'll keep giving her the chance.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it. Had me wondering if I was reading a trippy version of Go Ask Alice or Let the Right One In until the very end.

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange little book

[Bert · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The final girl knows for hours, maybe days, that she is about to die. She feels death coming. She hears it. She sees it. Welcome to my nightmare"

It's been quite a while since I've read a horror novel, I've had Innocence on my stack for a few weeks and I decided if jump into it and give it a try, I'm so glad I did because it's a very mysterious and haunting novel that's very reminiscent of horror classics such as Rosemary's Baby and Suspiria. There's an overwhelming amount of dread built up in this book, you just know something awful is coming and that Beckett is about to befall some sinister act from her wicked new stepmother. It's a book that sets out to do horror but in a different kind of way, it's told very dreamlike and sparse, the sentences are simple but quite distant which adds to the dreamy feel the book has.

This is Jane Mendelsohn's only horror novel and it's a shame because I'd like to read more by her but her other books don't sound of interest to me, it's as though she just thought up an idea and was able to turn it into a horror novel and I think that's really cool. Horror fans will find a lot to enjoy about this book, it's eerie, spooky and has a haunting vibe about it that will linger long after you've turned the final page. I loved it, read it in under a day!

[Kamakana · Rating 4 out of 5]

020412: this is a much later addition: liked this much more than her other work, must confess in some ways writing over it for myself, reviewing a book not there perhaps, but a book i would write, though read a little irigaray and it makes sense, read a little deleuze and it seems an object case of how identity is comforting fiction over disparate senses, thoughts, feelings, so maybe read this again...

first review: like a very involving, very intense, very concise, very smart horror film. not much blood and gore, the terrifying aspect instead that everyone you trust, everyone you believe, either does not believe or is actually, secretly, one of ‘them’. could see this as a movie, could see this as somewhat meta, but the very concise paragraphs do not interfere or slow down the images. fast, easy, the metaphors easily edging insanity. liked this much more than expected. a short fast read…maybe all feminist paranoia, but if it is all 'in her head'... just because it is not actual does not mean it is not real... this is not the 'possible' or the 'actual' this is the 'virtual' horror...

[Mikella Etchegoyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just a random book I found on a library shelf that looked like an interesting read about a teenager in a dark, gothic-esque coming of age in a new, unknown environment. It didn’t turn out to be anything like what I expected it to be. The book is full of beautiful, vivid and powerful imagery and metaphor. It has a constant, pulsing forward momentum that captivates the reader and pulls them through to the end. But with a book that begins with the narrator admitting that they are in essence an unreliable narrator, you can never be sure what is reality and what is fantasy. I was confused for a great deal of the book. I was down to my last thirty pages and I still wasn’t completely sure what was happening. Once I got to the end though, I realized that didn’t matter. You were meant to be spun into the tumultuous memories of Beckett’s traumatic experience, and the only result was coming out disoriented and uncertain. In all, it was a pretty good book, and a quick read which I’m always fond of.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really, really different. The book is written in intense, broken snippets. Paragraphs may be only one sentence, quotation marks are not used, and although the book has just under 200 pages it has over 50 chapters.

The book is allegorical. The things the narrator, Beckett, sees and experiences are representative of how she feels about the changes going on in her life: her mother dies, she starts a new school, her dad meets and marries someone new, etc. We never really know if the events taking place are real or not. However, as Beckett frequently reminds us: it doesn't matter if they are real, it only matters if they are true.

I really enjoyed this book. The writing style was reminiscent of poetry and it could easily be read in one sitting. However, it's not for everyone. If you don't enjoy experimental fiction or having an unreliable narrator, you'll probably want to skip this one.

[Brittany Jensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I watched the movie first because I saw it on Netflix ...I thought by reading the book I would understand things better... And to be honest I think I liked the movies better. I feel like I could follow the movie batter then I could follow this book. It was an alright book, but I don't really like how it was dialogued, this was confusing and I kept getting lost on who was speaking. I also feel like a lot things were repeated and that things should have been explained better. Parts of the book were really good but other parts were just not the best parts to read. This book was hard to keep track of what was happening.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beckett is a normal girl. Worried about growing up and feeling like she doesn't fit in, she begins to find her place in a new school and fall in love.

However, there are those around her who will go to any lengths to keep her away from boys.

Ethereal and eerie, 'Innocence' is a difficult book to read, with its dreamlike states and some profoundly disturbing imagery.

Update: Mendelsohn's novel loses none of it's visceral gut punch on rereading, either Beckett is targeted by Pam Rive, or she is losing her mind. Attempting to decide which is the preferred reading is impossible, as readers will bring their own mental state to each reading.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, this chick is growing up in the big city, and her stepmother is a little weird. You know how stepmothers are. But, the thing is, her stepmama might be a blood-sucking freak. Then again, maybe it's all part of her adolescent change-over into blooming womanhood. Cause you know, that's way traumatic - and there's the whole period/blood connection. Sexuality/Dracula/Goth - it all comes together - really (wink).

The language here is beauteous. It may not make sense reality-wise - but this is a fever-dream of a book.

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

Is there a possibility for negative stars? I got about halfway through this book, which isn't saying much because there is more blank space than written word in the hardcover edition. I did not like the style of writing and couldn't get used to it. For example, quotations were not used to let you know that someone was speaking, instead they were just mixed in with everything else. Plus I didn't like the main character. This read more like a B movie instead of a book.

[Chameleon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book did an excellent job of being haunting and surreal! At first I was affronted by the lack of quotation marks but honestly it added to the sense of mystery. I couldn’t put it down!
The movie was absolute garbage in comparison. It tried too hard to be a linear narrative and just fell flat with plotholes. Whereas this was completely compelling and was better for not spelling everything out. Still, the movie has Graham Phillips as Tobey- so I will be watching it again.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first the author's style reminded me of Francesca Lia Block. But as I read, I realized that Ms.Mendelsohn is actually a much better writer. The book is... weird. And kind of scary. I was trying to think of the word for this style of story. And then I looked at the book jacket and it was like "This is an awesome allegory". And I'm like yeah, allegory.

[Natalie Pietro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any book that opens with a wet girl asking for sex you know has to be good. Different, chilling, and sad. With relationship between the girl and the mother was so hard to picture. Very wonderful read. Dont pass this book up!

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong narrator, poetically written, pretty short (only 3 and a half hours on audiobook). But I really have no idea what it is: negotiating the dangerous passage between girlhood and womanhood, certainly, but possibly also blood lust/rites.

Enter at your own risk.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good find.

[BB]

basically a short story stretched out into novel length

[Saleh MoonWalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Onvan : Innocence - Nevisande : Jane Mendelsohn - ISBN : 1573221643 - ISBN13 : 9781573221641 - Dar 199 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2000

[Christopher Miller · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another I've had on my shelf for 20+ years, due for a revisit. I remember a girl in college recommending it to me, and being surprised by vampires. That's about it.
On revisit, the first thing to strike me was the overuse of simile. There are so many nonsensical similes thrown in, it was distracting. Half my attention as I read past page 20 or so was spent just waiting for the next one, and wondering whether it was done to pad the length or if the author was trying too hard. Faces like planets. Ties like leashes. Clouds like x-rays. Comb scraping my neck like nails. Elevator falling like a piece of a planet. Hair like rope. My heart dropped into my legs like an elevator with no cables. I am like the figure on the hood of a fancy car. Her body bent like a hinge. His smile like the tilted angle of a hat. Eyebrows knit together like two black ink lines in a Japanese comic strip. Music like sheets of colored rain.
For some reason, a whole lot of sentences start with "That's when..." which also gets distracting and annoying.
If the writing style weren't so grating, I might actually care if there really are supposed to be vampires seeking nourishment from virginal menstrual blood, or if the girl's imagining it all.
Raindrops slid down the wall like tears.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an incredibly strange read assigned for both my independent study in Gothic literature and my class in literary theory and criticism. This is a true contemporary supernatural Gothic tale (with a hint of Salinger) set in a Manhattan apartment, where a young girl faces evil in the form of womanhood. Mendelsohn's lyrical and unsettling novel uniquely deals with depression, suicide, menstruation, sexuality, and female friendship, while tinkering with the tried and tested Gothic tropes that have persevered since the genre took off with Ann Radcliffe. I would recommend to anyone looking for a modern female-centered thriller.

[Chandni · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this was going to be a horror novel, but it wasn't. The writing style reminds me of Francesca Lia Block, and it's completely disjointed and surreal. Beckett is a completely unreliable narrator, but it never comes together at the end. You don't know what's real and what's a falsehood created by Beckett. Usually, that would be something I enjoy, but the choppy writing style and lack of any character development made it really hard to be invested. At least it was short and I managed to finish it in one sitting.

[Corinne · Rating 4 out of 5]

HUUUUUGE SUSPIRIA VIBES UGH I LOVEEEEE!! this book fucked with my brain so much, the imagery is insane. definitely made me question my sanity a little and i barely had any idea what was happening ever. i had no clue what this book was about going into it and i’m so glad i didn’t because it threw me for a LOOP. disassociation? check. unreliable narrator? check. vampires? CHECK CHECK CHECK. i love books that have so many metaphors you can’t even comprehend how to explain them, and this one did just that

[Susan Haines · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm sure if I were a greater fan of the horror genre, this book would have struck a better chord with me. I appreciated that the author was trying to stay away from a cliche Twilight-style book, but I think it had some unfinished ideas that prevented the plot and characters from really resonating with me. It was a page-turner and never boring, though!

[Katelyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

While there were scarce moments I liked, I found it hard to follow. The author skips around a lot you never know what happening. Even by the end of the book I was still in a state of confusion. This is not something I will keep or reread but if you have a superiority complex about reading confusing literature than this is for you.

[Bill Ibelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful poetic writing and an eerie story in which you become engrossed in the possibly psychotic world of a teenager struggling with her own coming of age. As the story builds you're trying to determine what is real and what is psychosis, but all the while being entranced by the stunningly original imagery. Really loved this book. Not especially fond of the ending.

[Missy Auck · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t get it.
The format of writing was not for me. I didn’t get the storyline, couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t. And if it wasn’t real, what did it represent. The description of most everything was vibrant but I just didn’t get it. I’m glad it was a short read, so it wasn’t a long torture to finish it. Don’t recommend.