Excavation: A Memoir by Wendy C. Ortiz
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was tough for me to read. Wendy is 13 years old when she first meets Mr. Ivers, her English teacher. He's more than twice her age. And it doesn't take long for them to begin a relationship. An unhealthy relationship.

Wendy was a wild child growing up during the late 80s. Her parents divorced, her mom drank, and it would seem she was able to take any risk that could possibly be presented to a young person. I'm certain my preteen years were sheltered compared to Wendy's which may not make me the best reader for this memoir. This entire book (view spoiler)[ (sex with a teacher, drugs, drunken driving, cheating, lies, verbally abusive relationship) (hide spoiler)] was far from informative, enjoyable, or halfway pleasant to read.

It seems Wendy Ortiz is a talented writing. Unfortunately I didn't care much for her subject matter. A relationship, particularly one that isn't very loving, is often only interesting for the two people in the relationship. I had trouble finding any interest in the relationship that was presented in these pages.

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The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The hosts of my favorite podcast, Literary Disco, read and discussed this book. They warned that this is a disturbing book, and they were right. They suggested that maybe no one should read it. And they were right. Near the end of the discussion it was mentioned that Ketchum's book was based on real life events. I figured if I read up on what happened I would quench my curiosity about the contents of this book.

Ultimately I did not listen to Julia, Tod, and Rider over at Literary Disco. The real life story is about the torture and murder of Sylvia Likens in 1965. A mother of three children was caring for Sylvia Likens and her sister when she, her children, and several children from the neighborhood began torturing Likens, eventually leading to her death. I learned that the murder happened a couple of blocks from the house I lived in as a child (though I arrived nearly 20 years after Likens' murder). I also learned that my grandmother knew one of the families involved when the murder took place. Curiosity won, and I could not say no to reading this book.

Many liberties were taken from the original story to the final book. Characters were changed; the location was changed; I believe some of the abuse was even changed. What did not change was how horrible the torture was in this book. (There's a brief chapter where the first person narrator cannot even tell specifics about the events that occurred due to the nature of the abuse.) Sensitive readers should not pick up this book. There were several times I put the book down because I was sick to my stomach.

I want to give this book five stars but the content was too horrible. Jack Ketchem's writing was convincing, kept the story moving, and may leave me with nightmares for the next couple of weeks. I'll look forward to reading more by him.

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