A memoir by a man who at 17 was groomed by his female teacher into a sexual relationship. He does a fantastic, horrifying job of telling it very much from the perspective of his 17-year old self – how wonderful he found her, how frightened he was of her, and etc. It must have been very hard to do, because from any adult perspective you can tell she is a strange and manipulative woman, delighted to find someone who will follow her creepy script for romance. You can tell the author shares this adult perspective, as the post-script takes us to him at 35. The detailed story ends at his prom, but then he tells us that he ends up getting married to her in his first year of University (in his home town, because ‘you can’t go to Oxford,’ she tells him, because then we’ll be separated); and having a baby in his second year; and another baby in his fourth. Once he is capable of earning a wage, she never works again. He hates his job and she convinces him it is his duty to stay with it. Though he does not talk too much about it, the book absolutely aches with regret for the young years he lost. What is particularly sad is how clear he makes it that many people – including people in the power structure of the school – who knew what was happening and ignored it, because it was inconvenient for them for it to be happening. A complete heartbreaker of a story.
SEVENTEEN by Joe Gibson
