Impact presents an extended confrontation between a sexual assault victim and her assailants, as part of an imagined slightly revised court process, in order to understand why they did what they did and, on that basis, to make a recommendation to the court regarding sentence. It does not go … as expected.
A must-read for men and women alike. An attempt to explain nothing short of misogyny.
Peg Tittle (pegtittle.com) has written seven novels to date: Fighting Words: notes for a future we won't have, Jess, Gender Fraud: a fiction (category finalist in the Eric Hoffer Book Award competition), Impact, It Wasn't Enough (also a category finalist in the Eric Hoffer Book Award competition), What Happened to Tom (on Goodreads' list of Fiction Books That Opened Your Eyes To A Social Or Political Issue), and Exile.
She has also written several non-fiction books including Sexist Shit that Pisses Me Off, What If? Collected Thought Experiments in Philosophy (Taylor & Francis), and Critical Thinking: An Appeal to Reason (Routledge).
Her screenplays (including What Happened to Tom and Exile) have placed in several competitions, including Moondance, Fade-In, GimmeCredit, WriteMovies, Scriptapalooza, and American Gem. Aiding the Enemy has been produced as a short by David McDonald.
She was a columnist for the Ethics and Emerging Technologies website for a year (one of her pieces received 35,000 hits, making it #3 of the year, and another received 34,000 hits, making it #5 of the year), The Philosopher Magazine's online philosophy café for eight years, and Philosophy Now for two years. In addition, her short commentary pieces have also been published in Humanist in Canada, Links, Academic Exchange Quarterly, Inroads, Elenchus, South Australian Humanist Post, Forum, and The Humanist. Her longer pieces have appeared in Free Inquiry, The International Journal of Applied Philosophy, New Humanist, The New Zealand Rationalist and Humanist, Philosophy in the Contemporary World, and Sexuality & Culture: an interdisciplinary journal. And she's had a list published at McSweeney's ("Why Feminist Manuscripts Aren't Getting Published Today"). She now blogs (sporadically) at pegtittle.com and hellyeahimafeminist.com.
She has an M.A. in Philosophy, a B.Ed., and a B.A. in Literature, and has received over twenty Arts Council grants.
This was a difficult book review to write. I had so many questions I couldn't answer. Like, how do you write a review on a book dealing with sex assault? Do you talk about the book in general or about the ideas and questions the book raises? And if so, how can you do that without saying too much?
Impact is not a typical fiction book, but more of an observation. It deals with a confrontation between a female character and her aggressors. She visits them in the prison to get her answers, to understand the reasoning behind their actions. And it is hard work, maybe impossible in some ways. Our main character is a brave and courageous fighter for facing her aggressors and demanding answers. In real life, I don't know if anyone would do that, it would be too difficult, too raw, too psychologically traumatising to do it. It takes a lot of effort, determination and a bit of craziness to do so. On another note, she is very clever, well documented and read, so can answer in an intelligent manner to all the presumptions and remarks her attackers might have. Last two chapters were a page turner and, must admit, I wasn't expecting the end. But, to be honest, I didn't even know what to expect. I just read, hoping for the best and expecting anything.
The book is mostly a victim's monologue and contemplation, an overview on the programming and wrong mindsets some people grow up with. It is not an easy book to read, and there are times when you just have to close the book and breathe. The descriptive scenes are too much at times, so this book is not for the faint-hearted. I don't agree that all men are thinking in the way it is narrated in the book, but I know most do. Unfortunately, some of the women do as well. And it is both frightening and disappointing. Because the whole essence of humanity is slowly slipping away from some humans.
As a recommendation, I don't know. I would recommend it as a manual in prisons, for all the sexual assault convicts, although I'm not sure if they would get it. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to reflect on the nature of assaults happening against women
I got this book under 'Read it & Reap' Program in exchange for an honest review
After reading such a fun and merry "Book review" it was a bit hard to get into this story, because from the first pages it was clear that this book would touch a serious issue.
And I wasn't wrong.
I read the description before asking for review copy, but already forgot what the book was going to be about. Judging from the name - it would be something, that would leave a great impact on somebody, I thought. And then I started reading it and my heart broke.
"A prerequisite for being able to move freely among other people should certainly be the ability to control one’s actions, ..." But this is not always the case in our world.
To me that part sums up what this book is about, and it's about a sexual assault victim, who tries to figute out, why two men did this to her. And as I followed through the victim's thoughts, I felt that every conclusion she came to, was just her assumptions about her offenders. And from my experience, I think it's impossible to really know what the other person is thinking and what the motives are behind his/her behaviour. It really could be anything, no way to know for sure.
However, education and upbringing is key, especially when it comes to explaining to children about morals/ethics and endless possibilities, that they can have any life they can imagine for themselves, but of course in such way that no one gets hurt in the process. And most importantly - always think for yourself, learn to control yourself, and don't let anybody think for you and tell you what to do.
As they say, it all comes from the family and that's where the change should start.
All in all, it was really emotionally challenging for me to read the book, but it is well-written and the pages went by quickly, because I wanted to know how it all ended, was the ending fair to the heroine. And the last words just blew my mind, never thought it would end this way.
So, I would recommend this book to people who can read through such a touching topic and not get their heart broken. Although, it's hard not to.
Wow... How am I supposed to review a book that deals with sexual assault in such a powerful way? And can we talk about that ending? OMG, it might have been too much for my fragile little heart haha ^^' Peg Tittle once again wrote a powerful statement for women empowerment and men domination (sometimes a little too much. Not all men are like that, thank God!). I read "Impact" in one sitting, once I started, I couldn't stop! What would happen if women were really to confront their abuser? One needs a strong mind to go and confront the person who hurt them, again and again...
“It’s not just you,” she hastened to add. God knows why. “Put bluntly, men in general aren’t as strong as they like to think. Nor are they in control as much as they like to think.”
I'm glad I read it, it made me think (and will so for a long time) about the woman's place in society, about how men see us, about what makes someone want to hurt somebody else.
"Edgy, insightful, terrific writing, propelled by rage against rape. Tittle writes in a fast-paced, dialogue-driven style that hurtles the reader from one confrontation to the next. Chock full of painful social observations like "what did you think you were ramming your penis into, again and again? Some warm and fuzzy place that totally had nothing to do with me?" -- Hank Pellissier (director: Humanist Global Charity)