I had to take a 3 to 4 month break from listening to this book with about 7 hours to go.
This book is fascinating on several levels, but it drags on in the middle because many needless details are thrown in. The overuse of the word “pelvic” became annoying.
Regarding the details of the sexual assaults that some reviewers find unnecessary:
Details are needed to fully understand what this doctor put his patients through. I understand it can be difficult for some to listen to such explicit details, but an argument could be made that such shunning of the details of what happened to these women is precisely why they kept silent for so many years. “Unspeakable acts” must be spoken to obtain justice for the victims and to start the long process towards healing.
I found myself utterly perplexed by how niave some of these women were, especially some of the married women. I also found myself getting angry at some of the victims for continuing to see the doctor after being assaulted and/or for continuing to take their children to the doctor after being violated/assaulted.
With that being said, I do not blame these women for being victimized by this doctor and I hope they don’t blame themselves. I understand why these women were naive and why they deferred to the doctor but it doesn’t make it any less upsetting. These women were easy targets for such abuse to occur and this doctor knew it.
It is tragic this abuse went on as long as it did. It is tragic these women felt like they needed to remain silent. It is tragic the environment these women were in did not give them the strength to be able to open up about what happened to them.
The fact the doctor fathered children with his patients is glossed over but those children are easily the best evidence against him. I’m not sure why this was not explored more, other than it being “unspeakable” in this community.
There is no way the staff at the doctor’s office didn’t know something was up. Unless they were completely uneducated and naive, which is possible, they HAD to suspect something was amiss.
I recommend this book because it is an interesting case and I enjoyed hearing the play by play of the trial. I deducted two stars because it drags in the middle and would have flowed better had several of the middle chapters been cut.