Lindsey Reviews: Precise - Rebecca Berto

 

Rebecca Berto

Precise

E-book

2012

Precise is the story of Katherine.  At the time which the novel is set, she is a 22 year old, married to her childhood sweetheart Paul and living with her parents while she and her husband save for their first home.  But Katherine has a dark secret: all her life she has been abused by her Mother both physically and verbally.  Katherine has been erroneously led to believe that after her birth she was responsible for her mother unable to bear further children and somehow liable for her mother having a stillbirth and subsequent miscarriages.  She is the proverbial whipping boy and labelled evil, weak and useless; her mother’s toxic legacy eroding both her self worth and esteem.

Yet when Katie finds herself accidently pregnant, Katie starts to take stock of her situation and slowly begins to reclaim her life.  When her daughter Ella is born, it is almost as if Katie is reborn herself; her own mothering instincts taking over and mending her dented self confidence. She begins to see the light as it were and this enables her to gather strength to  finally  confront her mother to seek answers.  Katie has an epiphany; she realises she is not responsible for her Mother’s happiness or life and ultimately the treatment at the hands of her parent is a reflection of how damaged her own mother is, not her.

This was a very dark but equally dynamic read which was extremely compelling.  The author cleverly demonstrates through her writing, the damage and effects of physical and verbal abuse on a person’s psyche.  She captures perfectly the despair which the victim often feels and the power and manipulation the abuser wields.  Katherine’s story was empowering; it is only when she realises that she must break the cycle of abuse and detach from her mother’s control that she can be free.  Katie, in time, sees that she is the master of her own fate and happiness; that  as a person, she is entitled to live her own life with her own little family and therein experience the  security  and love which she has so desperately craved.

I really enjoyed this novelette; the writing was very well structured and Katie was a very empathetic character who I really found myself rooting for.  Although the story dealt with some upsetting themes, nevertheless it was insightful, uplifting and counteracted with empowerment and positivity.