Nobody Knows

by Rebecca Barber

Please listen up ladies, this is going to push buttons, if you are at all wary of books that portray or touch upon domestic violence then this requires a little bit more consideration on your behalf, for me though while I am not saying that it was an easy read, far from it… I commend the author for talking such an acutely evocative situation and not just to pay it lip service.

Looks can be deceiving and Joel and Gillian are the masters of deception because while the world outside may think they are the perfect couple, only they know the true dynamics that dictate their relationship and none of it is pleasant.

Life with Joel is a constant battle to keep on his affable side, I mean the man doesn’t actually have a good side, he is beyond reprehensible.

He is never at home; Gillian is effectively a single parent while he if off doing whatever he wants.

His treatment of Gillian follows so many of the foreseeable patterns for domestic abuse but it isn’t that easy when you are caught in the eye of the storm.

His pattern was completely abhorrent, he believed his family only needed him for his money, his self-respect was pitiful and he took that out on Gillian, in the end I actually couldn’t see anything redeemable, he was using his own feelings of inadequacy to almost justify the spite that he exhibited towards those that for some reason loved him.

I found the book enlightening in parts, the relationship between Adele and Gillian, how long had this man been like this, I had the feeling that his mother wasn’t surprised by the man her son had grown into.

No child should ever live in fear of the man that should love and cherish them in this world, just as no woman should ever be beholden to a man that promised at one time to love her till death they do part, but the fact that this family live in such misery is an all too painful reminder that they don’t do this alone.

The book that addresses an all too common situation but does so with tact and sincerity.