Lessons from a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles

What it's about (from Goodreads): Leah Greene is dead. For Laine, knowing what really happened and the awful feeling that she is, in some way, responsible set her on a journey of painful self-discovery. Yes, she wished for this. She hated Leah that much. Hated her for all the times in the closet, when Leah made her do those things. They were just practicing, Leah said. But why did Leah choose her? Was she special, or just easy to control? And why didn’t Laine make it stop sooner? In the aftermath of the tragedy, Laine is left to explore the devastating lessons Leah taught her, find some meaning in them, and decide whether she can forgive Leah and, ultimately, herself.

What I learned: Oh my goodness, this is an incredibly difficult book to read just because of the subject matter. It's not fun to read about a young girl molesting her best friend because she herself has been molested by a male friend of the family. I hurt so much for Laine, who is too young in the beginning to understand what is happening. I hurt for Leah, who knows that what was done to her was wrong but thinks she can get rid of it in a way by doing the same thing to Laine. It's so hard to know just where the pain stops when something so awful is done to one person. The crime didn't just affect Leah and her future relationships, it affected Laine and hers. This book makes me want to never let any of my future children alone with anyone, ever, even though I know that's not realistic. I've never read a book (that I can remember) that dealt with molestation like this. I learned, again, that there is no way of knowing everything that goes on a person's life. Laine is misunderstood by peers several times throughout the book because of how she reacts to certain situations because of Leah. Leah chooses much older boyfriends and dresses very sexually. I think most people - including me - would look at her and judge her or make a snarky comment. We never know what people have gone through and are going through and I know I need to change how I think about people whose actions I don't understand. I'm also so extremely thankful that I never experienced anything like what Leah or Laine did. The more I read, the more I realize how safe and happy my own child- and teenagehood was.


If you've read Lessons from a Dead Girl, what did you learn?