"Anatomy of a Scandal"

“Anatomy of a Scandal”

Written by Sarah Vaughan

Review written by Diana Iozzia

            “Anatomy of a Scandal” follows the multiple perspectives of the people involved in a high-profile rape case in London, England. This is a fictional story, but it feels very familiar to real life criminal court case proceedings. We meet Kate, the barrister / lawyer, James, the possible rapist, Olivia, the possible victim, Sophie, James’s wife, and a past perspective of Holly, who later turns out to be Kate as a college aged rape victim of James.

            This is a whirlwind novel with many twists, turns, scandals, and interesting information looking into law and the British legal justice system. I enjoyed this book, but not nearly as much as I had hoped I would. I can still give it a three out of five stars, but it’s just mediocre enough for me to like it. I had many problems with this book, but I did have some praises, so please continue on. If you feel you may be spoiled in any way, please do not proceed reading.

            Best friend to the prime minister and an MP himself, James Whitehouse is accused of raping the woman he’s having an affair with, but she only claims that it was rape after the news story breaks. This is automatically problematic to people who would be offended by sexual assault and rape, so I imagine this book could be quite triggering. I have never personally been a victim of any form of sexual violence, so I do not find this book problematic or triggering. I find it educational, providing an insight into English law.

            I found the multiple perspectives to be a bit over the top and quite repetitive. Yes, Kate is determined (her perspective is by far my least favorite perspective). Sophie is betrayed. James is terrible. Holly was a sad college student. Uh oh, Kate’s really determined now. Sophie is betrayed again. It feels like you’re in this constant loop of Dante’s inferno. Sophie’s perspective is interesting, because we see her go from denial her husband is involved to by the end of the trial, being heartbroken, and then being completely removed from the scenario. There’s an interesting scene in her perspective between her and James’s mother. Also, I thoroughly enjoyed Holly’s perspective, and I think it was the most interesting narratives, even though it eventually links up to Kate.

            A major issue I found with the book was the intense, over-explained dialogue and descriptions. Honestly, some of the descriptions of places and people just seem to fill the pages, rather be full of useful substance. There’s a very long description of how libraries smell better than book stores, because book store customers eat tuna fish sandwiches and touch the books? Oh, yes, and the beer infused burp that they let out, after just drinking a pint at the pub. I don’t understand how this is interesting storytelling. I’m all for a description that seems almost perfectly realistic, but this is a stretch. I have to mention the all too familiar example of the mousy, awkward female who doesn’t regard themselves as beautiful and never has received a single look of male attention. Surely, she wouldn’t get raped. Did we really have to read this? It just belabors the point.

            Lastly, the conclusion leading up to Holly / Young Kate’s rape during college was complicated, and it seemed to be added into the end as an afterthought. It seemed unnecessary for the plot, and it didn’t make me care about the before. Surely, I felt sympathetic after the rape, but the drunken / drug / death plot beforehand was unrealistic. I know college can be a terrible place for some people, but Jesus, it seemed that every bad stereotype had to be thrown in for posterity.

            In conclusion, the book was mediocre at best. The 400 pages of this over-descriptive, tiresome novel could have been adapted into a 45-minute Law and Order episode. I really wanted to enjoy this novel, but I think I had assumed by the description that it would play out differently. This does happen to me sometimes, where I find that a book’s blurb or description isn’t all that fitting. It seemed more intense, more gripping, more thrilling than it unfortunately turned out to be.