Black and Blue (Oprah's Book Club)
by Anna Quindlen
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Book Summary Information
Author: Anna QuindlenEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-02-08
ISBN: 0385333137
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Delta
Book Reviews of Black and Blue (Oprah's Book Club)
Book Review: A Well-Researched, Well-Written Book
Summary: 5 Stars
I absolutely love this book. I am an attorney and used to represent battered women. I also founded a domestic violence prevention ministry at my church. The description of Bobby, the batterer, is spot on. He is not only a sadistic monster, but is also a good-looking, sexy, popular man with a repectable career who can be very caring. He is bothered by the horrible things he sees on the streets as a narcotics detective and is very protective of his wife and child. He doesn't always rape his wife solely to hurt her; he simply feels he has the right to her services when he pleases. Of course, he also feels there are times she needs to be punished because he is angry. He tells her that living with her "was no picnic" because sometimes when he got home (from drinking) in the middle of the night, he had to pleasure himself because she was sound asleep. He equates this ommission on her part to the abuse he inflicted.
The victim, Fran, is not weak-minded or deserving of abuse in any way, she is smart, devoted and in control at work as an ER nurse. In fact, although her hospital friends suspected abuse, they dismissed their suspicians because "Fran would never put up with that." She has to cope with her anger, fear, loneliness, guilt and confusion.
Clearly, the author did excellent research. Every sentence is believable to me. Although I am not familiar with an organization such as that run by Patty Bancroft, this doesn't mean they don't exist. I am more familiar with the work of shelters. I thought it was interesting that the author portrayed Fran's resentment at being controlled so completely by Patty; it felt like how Bobby treated her. Often, battered women are assumed to be incompetent children; they are not.
There are a few things I would have done differently. Fran seems to struggle with the issue of whether "tasty but dangerous" men are her type; they unlikely are. In fact, her second husband Mike was a kind man. It is her indifference towards Mike that bothers me. She was only 19 when she met Bobby and was completely unaware of what laid in wait for them as the relationship unfolded, as was he in all likelihood. I think this portrayal of her perpetuates the notion these women deserve what they get because they repeatedly seek macho, violent men. In the first place, all sorts of men abuse women, not just good-looking, swaggering, muscular NYC cops. Ivy League English professors in tweed jackets who rarely raise their voices also abuse their partners. In the second place, I am unaware of any psychological study that supports the notion battered women seek out abusive men. If a woman happens to end up in a second abusive relationship, this probably reflects the dismal life circumstances in which her first abusive relationsip left her, moreso than some masochistic desire to be abused. Perhaps the author was just trying to portray Fran's guilt and confusion. Second, in all likelihood, Bobby's jealousy would probably be more incessant and hounding than what was portrayed. It was mentioned a time or two. Most of these women live with constant and ridiculous accusations of infidelity. It wrecks their self-image, and sometimes their public image, depending upon how vocal their abuser is. Third, he probably would have called her names worse then the "B" word. He more than likely would have used the worst language imaginable. On the other hand, all abusers are different, and Bobby is still a very believable character.
In short, Quindland has written a beautiful and wonderfully realistic book that is very poignant.
Summary of Black and Blue (Oprah's Book Club)
With daring and compassion, Anna Quindlen weaves a forceful, harrowing portrait of a woman and a marriage, capturing the profound intricacies of love and rage, passion and violence. At once heartbreaking and utterly riveting, BLACK AND BLUE is an extraordinary work of fiction and a brilliant achievement.For eighteen years, Fran Benedetto kept her secret, hid her bruises, and stayed with Bobby because she wanted her son to have a father and because, in spite of everything, she loved him. Then one night, when she saw the look on her ten-year-old son's face, Fran finally made a choice--and ran for both their lives.
With the repackaging of BLACK AND BLUE and One True Thing, Anna Quindlen takes her place alongside Dell's Alice McDermott and Rosellen Brown bringing their beloved, acclaimed contemporary classics to a whole new audience of trade paperback readers in Delta editions.
Oprah Book ClubŪ Selection, April 1998: "The first time my husband hit me I was nineteen years old," begins Fran Benedetto, the broken heroine of Anna Quindlen's Black and Blue. With one sweeping sentence, the door to an abused and tortured world is swung wide open and the psyche of a crushed and tattered self-image exposed. "Frannie, Frannie, Fran"--as Bobby Benedetto liked to call her before smashing her into kitchen appliances--was a young, energetic nursing student when she met her husband-to-be at a local Brooklyn bar. She was instantly captivated by his dark, brooding looks and magnetic personality, but her fascination soon solidified into a marital prison sentence of incessant abuse and the destruction of her own identity. After an especially horrific beating and rape, Fran realizes that the next attack could be the last. Fearing her son would be left alone with Bobby, she escapes one morning with her child. Fran's salvation comes in the form of Patty Bancroft and Co., a relocation agency for abused women that touts better service than the witness protection program. Armed only with a phone number, a few hundred dollars, and the help of several anonymous volunteers, Fran begins a new life. The agency relocates her to Florida, where she becomes Beth Crenshaw, a recently divorced home-care assistant from Delaware. Fran and her son adapt, meeting challenges with unexpected resilience and resolve until their past returns to haunt them. Quindlen renders the intricacies of spousal abuse with eerie accuracy, taking the reader deep within the realm of dysfunctional human ties. However, her vivid descriptions of abuse, emotional disintegration, and acute loneliness at times numb the reader with their realism.
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