I read about this book somewhere online; I remember opening up a window with a review and leaving it open on my desktop for about a week because I didn't have the time to seat down and read it. When I finally did read it I knew right away that I was going to be getting this book, regardless of it being on Hardcover still. (Isn't it sad how a hardcover book feels like a luxury nowadays?)
In any case, I read this baby in about a week, not necessarily because I couldn't put it down (which I couldn't) but because it was such an easy read. I mean, I was surprised at how smooth the whole thing was. I expected to need breaks because of the subject matter, that Fragoso was going to go on and on about herself and her plight, and it was not the case. But I suppose I should tell you a bit about the actual book itself. Tiger, Tiger is a memoir. What makes Fragoso want to share her life? First, she was raised by a controlling and self-aggrandizing Puerto Rican Man, a mother with deep psychological problems, and at 7 years-old, she met a pedophile who molested her until the age of 17, and who killed himself when she was 22.
Fragoso starts the book with a foreword, explaining this situation, so the reader knows what they're getting into. Well, they know about the pedophile. She manages to tackle this subject matter head on, not using euphemisms nor fake colorful language when it gets tough. She's honest: their relationship begins with Peter Curran just being the nice guy with a house full of animals that is the complete opposite to her father. She explains her family situation first, (without saying that she's doing so) so the reader knows how it was possible that she could be molested so assiduously and for so long. When she was 8 and 9, Peter taught her tickle games and was the hug monster. He was also a serial rapist, through the story we learn in a roundbout away (the way Fragoso learned it) that he molested several other girls, including his own estranged daughters.
Curran eventually turns her into his goddess and Fragoso eventually begins to abuse him as well, in order to have some "retribution" from the sexual favors she gave him. He encouraged her creative mind, helping her write and create as a child. She is poetic, yet correct anatomically when it comes to explicit talk of their sexual endeavors. She also explains how slowly their relationship stopped being sexual but still present, until her 20's, even when she had a real boyfriend. And then there's the account of his death and how it affected her - and her family. Fragoso ends the novel by talking about her own daughter, now around the age Fragoso was when she met Curran, and she explains why she would take the time to write the novel; seemingly a how-to for pedophiles, Fragoso claims that if parents know that it's the innocuous neighbor who posits the most danger, then their guard will be up.
But that's just what the book pertains to be about. Personally, I found the story to be more about her parents than anything else, especially her father. Their story weaves in and out of her "relationship" with Curran, and you can tell that unlike with Curran, Fragoso has yet to work through her anger towards her parents. She depicts Curran as a calm man, even through the moments he was angry and yelling at her, even at the times he slapped her. Her father, however, rarely spoke without an exclamation mark at the end of every sentence, often in CAPS to indicate yelling. Although Fragoso deconstructed Curran, both in writing and personally, her father remains a mystery to her. The man that tried to protect her, albeit in a macho way, and whose efforts to take care of her somewhat drove her into Curran's hands, is barely explored. We receive tidbits here and there, often gained from his talks with her.
Her mother, who allowed for the abuse and molestation to occur while she was in the same house with Fragoso, is also not explored. Fragoso doesn't seem to come to terms with the fact that her mother's psychological problems allowed her to possibly see what Curran was doing, but deem it love and care and good for her daughter, since at least Curran would make her eat. At the end of the novel, we know nothing of Fragoso's current relationship with her parents, wether she agonized about them learning about what went on under their noses, whether they knew before hand, or if she blames them in any way. I found that to be the only lacking aspect of the memoir. Even though she ends by talking about the family tradition she now continues with her daughter (making up stories for her at night, like her father did with her) Fragoso leaves open the fact that her parent's abuse was just as detrimental as Curran's. Although she does admit that there are some traditions she's planning on not continuing.
No comments:
Post a Comment