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Una – Becoming Unbecoming
There are times when I’d rather let the synopsis or a blurb speak to my thoughts on a book, and it’s tempting to leave it at that blurb on the front cover. But that’s cheating, so I’ll look straight at the horror depicted in this book instead and try to give you some coherent thoughts about it. On the surface, this is a memoir of Una’s childhood and how it intersected with the string of murders committed by the Yorkshire Ripper in the 70’s. The cops were completely out of their depth and focused on the wrong things; since they assumed he was targeting prostitutes, in a way they “deserved” it, right? And when other victims came forward that didn’t fit the profile, well, the killer must have messed up that time. It was a hell of a way to grow up, with visible evidence that adults didn’t value women. They certainly didn’t believe their stories. Una’s story is also grim, but the way she approaches her trauma almost makes it… there’s not an English word that would fit here. It comes at you in waves. She’ll mention a boy she met when she was younger, and then an older man, but it’s vague enough where you can hope that nothing horrible happened. Then she’ll come back to it and mention a couple more details, but you can still convince yourself that she escaped the worst of it. Then finally she describes the incident, and as the reader you have nowhere left to hide. Still, growing up in this environment left her with nobody to talk to, and since she had technically been involved in the acts, she got a reputation at school. Or, as she put it, she lost her reputation, before she ever really got a good look at it. The rest of the book details her environment with these killings going on; how she dealt with childhood, life, her family and her fellow students. It also offers advice to women reading it now, some scientific theories for how people could be that way, how there’s nothing that really separates men who rape from men who don’t in terms of upbringing or a “cause.” And the ending, with images of the lives these women might have led, and her own questions about how her life could have gone without these traumas… it’s devastating stuff. If you’ve ever dealt with trauma yourself, this book could do you some real good. If you’re just an average person (whatever that means), this will help you see certain aspects of reality in a new light. In other words, it’s very much worth a look. $23.95
