Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Nobody’s Girl:
More brutal than you expect. And I expected a lot.
Quick synopsis:
The memoir of Virginia Giuffre, who was one of Jeffrey Epstein’s most known victims.
Fact for Non-History People:
Epstein’s net worth at this death was $600 million. Barf.
Fact for History Nerds:
Giuffre’s abuse at the hands of Epstein and Maxwell lasted about two years.
My Take on Nobody’s Girl:
(Note: There is a semi-spoiler in this review, but that’s not until the last full paragraph. I am not hiding the review since the vast majority of it is non-spoiler and even the last part takes place in the very beginning of the book.)
I knew Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Giuffre was going to be brutal. However, I don’t think you can ever be properly prepared for how bad the abuse is. Epstein and Maxwell are not the only evil trash in this book. Luckily, Giuffre herself is aware of just how soul crushing this all is. She literally has short interludes after certain episodes where she breaks the fourth wall to say, in essence, “I know this is awful, let’s talk about something else for a quick minute and take a breather!” She is right every time.
The writing is good and Giuffre and her co-writer, Amy Wallace, do a great job of making this sound like Giuffre’s voice. Most impressively, the author pulls no punches on herself. A lot of reviews will be mad at her decisions and that is valid. However, the impressive part of this whole thing is that Giuffre knows she will be criticized. She leaves her own faults on the page for everyone to see and provides the reasoning for some of the more controversial decisions she makes. Her point is that you don’t need to be a saint to be believed. Giuffre repeatedly says this book is for fellow victims to realize they can have a voice even if they’ve made mistakes. I feel Giuffre fully follows through on this promise. In fact, it is probably to her own detriment.
****Semi-spoiler territory****
It is hard to find the hope when as the reader you already know Giuffre ultimately committed suicide before this book was published. Wallace, the co-author of this book talks about this in the prologue, but she also does something which makes the whole book confusing. Wallace directly says that Giuffre’s husband was abusive. While she states that, she doesn’t go into extensive detail. Almost immediately, Giuffre takes over and the book starts with her praising her husband as her rock. She never wavers from calling him a fantastic husband. Also, the book does not directly address the husband taking the kids away before her death. Giuffre herself obliquely mentions they fought and he had a temper and even intimates she was not proud of her own actions. Was this a mutually abusive relationship? Was Giuffre covering for another abuser? It’s never clear. It all makes the reader wonder how we view Giuffre and whether we need to accept that she is an unreliable narrator through to the end. I am so conflicted because I don’t necessarily fault Wallace for bringing it up, but at the same time, Giuffre’s reliability is so vital. If Wallace felt it was necessary to talk about this, I think she needed to be much clearer about what exactly was happening in their relationship. I’m not sure it matters, but I do know I was very distracted by the tonal whiplash.
Ultimately, that criticism doesn’t undo what this book is—heroic.
(This book was provided as a review copy by Knopf Doubleday.)
Verdict:
Brutal, but important. Buy it here!
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