Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced reader copy.

This week’s headline? People still read newspapers?

Why this book? I haven’t read a book by a male author in months

Which book format? ARC

Primary reading environment? BFF’s house

Any preconceived notions? I completely forgot the synopsis as I requested it months ago, so no

Identify most with? “Mostly I kept to my novels.”

Three little words? “certain men’s conversation”

Goes well with? Popsicles

Recommend this to? People who’ve gone through a traumatic experience when they were younger

Other cultural accompaniments: https://chireviewofbooks.com/2023/08/04/dispelling-the-myth-of-the-perfect-victim-an-interview-with-kyle-dillon-hertz/

I leave you with this: “Nobody tells you that you will outgrow your own life as you live it.”
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This is raw. This is brutal. This is graphic. This is a novel about Dylan, who was sex trafficked as a teen. I’m usually not one that needs palette cleansers after reading something heavy but I will be needing one this time around.

That being said, while there’s a lot that Dylan has gone through, and is still going through, he is learning to heal. He is forced to revisit his traumatic past due to the Child Victims Act, showing bravery that can be difficult to find in oneself when past experiences are as horrific as his were. He has one year to sue his abusers

Also, an interesting tidbit - Hertz based this novel off of his own experience.

The Lookback Window is now available.
tw: rape, sex trafficking, assault, abuse, torture, drug use

A rare book that tackles trauma, addiction, and recovery in a beautifully honest and compassionate way. At times, it is emotionally tough to read, and it remains a necessary and stunning novel .

Heartbreaking exploration of seeking justice from violence. The Lookback law allows victims to peruse their abusers shears after the events. The idea of this is hopeful but it’ may be at the expense of the victim having to rehash trauma and possibly confront their abuser again. I enjoyed the book and think if you enjoy learning more about the legal aspect of seeking justice this is a good fit.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the gifted ARC and NetGalley access in exchange for my honest opinion.
The Lookback Window’s title refers to a piece of the Child Victim Act, set in place in 2019, which allowed victims of abuse one year to file a civil claim, regardless of how long ago the abuse had occurred. While this is a novel, the vulnerability shown seems to have been informed from the author’s real life trauma.
Dylan, the main character, is living life as a gay man in NYC, engaged to be married, when this law and its lookback window throw him for a wrench. His three years as a sex trafficking victim in his early teens have been repressed, and now that trauma is reappearing front and center. The reader sees how this law, while a good thing, can have unintended consequences many years later.
This is a tough read. I read about 1/3 of the book last summer and needed a break from the traumatic subject. I waited a full six months before returning to it via audiobook with a library loan. Sexually explicit with blatant drug use, this book will not be everyone’s cup of tea. But the writing is gorgeous, and switching to the audiobook helped me better process everything that was coming my way. The story will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review and opinion.

Dylan is (understandably) messy, but this book is unpleasant and difficult. It seems as though the extended statute of limitations is the excuse for this story rather than the catalyst.

Debut novel reminiscent of A Little Life, with all the expected triggers, beauty, and emotion. Well-written, lyrical, with characters you will love to hate.

I loved this book, will definitely be recommending to everyone. A classic poignant LGBT book with past traumas that come back to haunt the MC. I was a little confused as to where the story was going at certain points but I enjoyed the ending.

DNF’d at 20%

This was too often far raunchier than I can stand and it kept me from connecting with the character or story.

This was a great big giant NO from me. I'm not so prude I can't handle some sexual content, but this was pornographic in a way I don't find interesting at all.

THE LOOKBACK WINDOW is a beautifully written, deeply compassionate and nuanced story of a young gay man trying to cope when a new law brings up the painful ghosts of his past. This was very much a good book, but also one that is hard to issue a blanket recommendation for, because the content warnings are extremely heavy. (Think A LITTLE LIFE heavy - I will say that this book will appeal to anyone who, like myself, hated A LITTLE LIFE, because it deals with similar themes in a much kinder and more hopeful and more real way.)

That said: I absolutely do recommend it. The writing was great, the characters compelling and messy and deeply sympathetic even when you were internally screaming “NO DON’T DO THAT” at them, and the difficult story is told with an immense amount of compassion and care. My one qualm is that the pacing felt a little uneven, and it seemed like a little too much action was crammed into the very end of the book; otherwise, I loved it.

If you think you can handle the heavy content, I would say this is absolutely worth picking up. Thanks so much to Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for the ARC!

"There's a chance my present has ceased. If that's the case—if I'm gone—I had two hopes: to map a way of healing form a form of violence I never totally understood, if it's understandable at all, and to provide a guide on how a person in the present of their lives might speak the unspeakable. Language failed me for many years. All I did was run and scream. That might be my legacy, too." This was so painful and beautiful; a messy, lyrical look at some of the ugliest things a person can experience and what happens when you keep living past the things that happen to you. It makes spectacular use of form to create the experience of C-PTSD and is really just a perfectly crafted novel.

Special thanks to Simon and Schuster for the ARC of this book.

Wow! How do I describe this book? It is a very raw story that covers rape, drugs, abuse, childhood trauma.

Dylan, a man who is traumatized and struggling everyday because of the abuse and horrible things that happened in his childhood. He was "pimped out" , drugged, raped and of course it leaves him paralyzed and incapable of normal relations.

Then the Lookback Law gets passed and this is a law that leaves victims 1 year to pursue legal action against their tormentors.

This story is very sad but well written.

The premise of this book reminded me of A Little Life. It just wasn’t nearly as good.
Thanks to #netgalley and #simonandschuster for this #arc of #thelookbackwindow in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the eARC.

This book will break your heart throughout. Get ready. Get tissues. What a story.

The Lookback Window
By Kyle Dillon Hertz

I could not get into this book. It is a story of homosexuality, sex trafficking…and little else as far as I read. But it wasn't the subject matter that put me off; it was the quality of the writing. I would not have been surprised if it was written by a hormone driven teenager.

Since I only read a short portion of the book before losing interest, I have no other comments to make.

I am so thankful to Simon and Schuster, Netgalley, and Kyle Dillon Hertz for granting me both digital and physical access to this ultimately triggering tale before it published on August 8, 2023.

Not for me, at all.

I didn't connect well with the writing style. Mostly, though, the content was just way too unnecessarily graphic. I felt like I was reading a porn magazine. I needed more substance and emotion, and a lot less sex.

DNF

"The more a person knew what happened to you the more they knew what they could get away with doing to you..”

Our MC, Dylan, has the chance to seek justice against his childhood abusers. Forced to look back upon the trauma of rape and sex-trafficking at the age of 14, we're brought into his deep, painful unraveling. Alcohol abuse, drug addiction and destructive sexual experiences are how he copes with it. The story is extremely graphic and raw, and if you're not in a good mental space, it isn't for you right now.

This book will absolutely wreck you. It's not just about Dylan, but so many survivors of abuse and the broken system that fails them time and again. It's also about recovery, bravery and hope. It's so authentic and visceral that it's hard to believe it's a work of fiction. Hertz has written an absolutely stunning debut.

The Lookback Window by Kyle Dillon Hertz
#LGBTQIA+
#NetGalley published 8/1/23
⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

This was a very difficult book to read. Don't get me wrong. The language was easy to understand but the subject was difficult to digest. I do believe that things may occur exactly as shown here.

This book is about a young (I think it said 28?) man. Who is currently in a stable relationship with a man in his mid-30's. But through living his life, we learn that he had been trafficked s€xu@lly from the ages of 14-17. He was sold out to older men. The concept in itself has messed him up as you would thoroughly expect. But now the "Lookback window" allows adults that have missed the window to prosecute now have one more year to do so. He has lived a tough life including hard drugs, started by his trafficker and johns.

I almost DFN it. It is very raw. Includes explicit s€xu@l descriptions. But TBH it does seem like pretty much what I would have expected his life to be like. It probably doesn't help that his adoptive parents probably should never have passed the parental adoption surveys. I read this book mixed in with other books to give myself a break. After finishing this I am picking up a light romance. I truly need a break. I've had a few tough ones in a row.

If you think you can handle it, give it a try. I personally do not feel that the s€x is gratuitous. I think it is used to push the point home. I do wish I knew where the author got his information. Personal experience? Interviews?

#generalfiction
#toughread
#thelookbackwindow
#kyledillonhertz
#bookstagram #bookreview #bookrecommendation #booknerdigan