Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

"Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared.

Once upon a time, my name was not Alice.
Once upon a time, I didn’t know how lucky I was.

When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over.
Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her.
This is Alice’s story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget." -GoodReads.

Paperback, 170 pages

Published September 8th 2009 by Simon Pulse (first published September 2nd 2008)

(I read the published in 2008 book)

There is really not a whole lot that can be said about this book.

It was heart wrenching.

Terrifying.

And just straight up sad.

Living Dead Girl is told through Alice's eyes. What she has to go 

through everyday with Ray is just awful. Every time Ray touches her

or doesn't let her eat so that she will stay weak and little,

every time he talks about her death, she wishes she really

 was dead. And that he would just kill her already.

She remembers her life before Ray. How she had everything

and now she has nothing. She wishes she appreciated it

more when she had it.

Alice doesn't think she has the power to ask anyone for help.

He threatens her and he real family so she does nothing.

I wanted to reach through the pages and pull this little girl out,

hold her, and tell her it would be alright. That we could fix it.

Even though Living Dead Girl is only 170 pages, it feels so

much longer, because it is so hard to swallow what is

happening to this poor child.

But I really think it helps raise the question, if you saw something

that doesn't look quite right, would you say something? Or would

you just turn and look the other way and think that it is none of 

your business?

It is a hard read, but it needs to be read.

Living Dead Girl is also a challenged and banned book. THIS website

has an interview with Elizabeth Scott. Notice the reasons she said her 

book has been banned. For "inappropriate content" and "unsatisfactory

ending". It is a great interview so I would suggest reading it.

I whole-heartedly disagree with Living Dead Girl being banned. 

No, it is not a fairy tale. And it has very intense and sometimes graphic

content about how Alice is being abused. But people do need to be

reminded of these kinds of things.

They need to be reminded that it can happen to anyone, so if you see 

something, SAY SOMETHING. Do not just turn your head, because

this story is happening to some poor child.

The "unsatisfactory ending" made me want to punch whoever said it.

I won't say what happens in the end, but this person was seriously

delusional when s/he said it.

It's a really short book, I had it done in a couple hours. So I hope you

decide to pick it up and read it. I will not lie and say it won't get to you,

because it will, but it is supposed to.

It is supposed to push the nice and sweet boundaries that have been 

put up. Not everything is always as it seems, and Living Dead Girl 

really and truly shows that.