An Excellent Book With An Important Message: What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler Review

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Rape culture is something that needs to be talked about more.

We can no longer ignore this very important issue. Doing so would be an injustice to it's victims. There are some measures being taken, yes, but not enough. There are still so much people out there who do not understand the severity of rape. There are still a number out there who even blame this atrocious act on the victims themselves. It is important that these thoughts and opinions be corrected in order for this issue to be eradicated but as I said above, the movement against rape is too small. It needs to grow bigger for everyone to take notice. It gives me joy that the number of people who recognize this as a fact is working everyday to make this movement bigger and I assume Aaron Hartzler is one of those people because of his fantastic novel, What We Saw.

It has been a long time since I have read a book that is not only great but also very powerful and important in the world today. What We Saw took the issue of rape and created a story around it. Hartzler took this issue head-on, unflinchingly telling the events of the story as truthfully as he can. He presents everything as they are. He pushes aside being sensitive because this issue does not deserve to be watered down and not treated seriously. His characters are all distinct, real, and more importantly represent the different perspectives on rape in society quite accurately. Everyone had a specific and imperative role that pushed the story forward. It added so much more to the novel. The character development of the main protagonist, Kate, was also done well.

The writing was magnificent. Good thing too because the writing was crucial to achieve the goal of this book. The dialogue between the characters made you understand who they really were and how they think rape is and how it should be treated. It made you feel all sorts of emotions that made you invest more on specific characters as well as despise the others. It also generated a sort of grim, tense, and mysterious atmosphere from the very first chapter making everything much more serious. Hartzler also did a great job at writing subtle sentences here and there that will eventually have a greater meaning and importance in the later chapters.

The only thing that really bothered me was the pacing in some parts of the book especially the first few chapters. It really took it's time up until the pivotal scene in the cafeteria. The pacing slowed down a bit at the middle too. I would also have also liked to see more of the character Stacy especially in the end.

Overall, What We Saw was a terrific debut novel that should not be missed. It tells a captivating story while telling important messages at the same time. It was exactly what it needed and more. It utterly exceeded my expectations. It doesn't shy away from the challenge of taking on a sensitive topic and Hartzler took it on beautifully. If this how Aaron Hartzler writes, I'm looking forward to his future projects because it will undoubtedly be wonderful.

9/10 stars

(Side note # 1: This book does contain explicit content in some chapters and does get very dark. Please think of how you may react to these certain scenes before reading.)

(Side note # 2: This is my more elaborate and thought-out review of What We Saw. If you want to see my first one, click here)