Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators

   Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators

by Ronan Farrow

Pages: 448

5 stars out of 5

This book made me angry. But, I think it is supposed to make you angry. Reporter Ronan Farrow stumbled upon a conspiracy that had long protected men in power in the media, the government, the world of finance and Hollywood.  As he dug deeper to find out how many women had been sexually harassed and some assaulted, he discovered a network that covered up what was going on for decades. Women were afraid to come forward both because of a threat to their careers but for some their life and the lives of the family members had also been threatened. Some people disappeared. Ronan thought about backing off the story when he realized he was being followed and photographed but his partner and his sister kept encouraging him not to be another  man who had let these women down. He lost his job and had to sell the story freelance but eventually the truth won out. Several people in this book have recently been convicted of their crimes while others are still awaiting trial. Sadly, some are still protected. 

Women Talking

 Women Talking
by Miriam Toews
Pages: 216
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This historical fiction in inspired by true events of a real Mennonite community and the author imagines how different women and men in the community may have responded to these events.

One evening, eight Mennonite women climb into a hay loft to conduct a secret meeting. For the past two years, each of these women, and more than a hundred other girls in their colony, has been repeatedly raped during the night. At first the male leadership told them, this was their punishment for their sins but when the women learn that they were actually drugged and violated by a group of men from their own community, they must decide how to respond and how to protect themselves and their daughters from future harm. 

The police from outside the colony have come in and arrested the men and now the men of the colony have decided that they all (including the women and girls who are too young to understand what happened to them) must forgive the rapists and welcome them back into their community. The men set off to the city to raise money for bail and this small group of women meet to decide - should they stay in the only world they have ever known with those who have harmed them, or should they venture out into the unknown and hope for safety there. They ask the only man to remain behind, the school teacher who was a formerly shunned member of their community to record their discussion. 

None of the women can read, write or even speak the language outside of their colony. Can they risk their lives and those of their children to escape their rapists. If not, can they truly forgive not only the rapists but those who are bringing them back into the colony and knowingly putting them in danger again. If they leave what age of male children do they take with them? Is it too late to save their young sons? Have they already been corrupted by the leadership that allowed this to happen in the first place?