Black and Blue

Anna Quindlen

Why does a woman stay with an abusive husband? Especially an educated nurse who could support herself and their son if she left the man? Ask Fran Benedetto - I mean Beth Crenshaw, now. She stayed with Bobby Benedetto for 18 years. Finally she has taken their son and escaped. She didn't divorce her husband. Instead she took her son and ran away through a modern underground railroad type system for battered women. Now, as Beth Crenshaw, they are living in a small, shabby home in Florida.

Black and Blue is Fran/Beth's first person narrative of vignettes of her life with her policeman husband in New York City and her new life in Florida. Now she doesn't live in fear of being beaten or raped every day, depending on her husband's mood. Instead, she is worried about being found. Because if Bobby Benedetto finds his wife and son, she is sure he will kill her.

She is afraid to trust anyone - to get close to anyone. Robert, her son, is strictly taught who he is now and what their background story is. At ten years old he understands and yet misses his father and doesn't understand. He had allowed himself to believe her lies to him for all those years even though he knew the truth behind all her injuries. Fran knows the reason her son's face isn't on a milk carton is due to Bobby's pride. He wouldn't let his fellow policemen know anything was wrong with his family.

This is a chilling, realistic novel that is readable and not overwhelmingly dark. The first sentence sets the tone for the book - "The first time my husband hit me I was nineteen years old..." The despair of Fran's life shows through, but her courage and fear overshadow it. She is constantly worrying about discovery, yet she is free of the shadow constantly looming in her home.

Anna Quindlen has the right touch and tone throughout this book to keep the reader involved without getting mired into sentimentality or total despair her/himself. Quindlen shows the horrors of living with someone you love deeply who uses you as a punching bag (in this case a husband, but could be a parent, sibling, etc). But the narrator's tone is never cloying or "poor me" emotional.

Black and Blue is a book worth reading. Be prepared - there's no pat happy ending. Instead, it's a lifelike ending. There are still a lot of problems - but there are some solutions as well.

Notice: Suggestive dialogue or situations