Living Dead Girl

Book Review: Living Dead Girl “Once upon a time, I didn’t know how lucky I was,” (pg. 9) the main narrator, by the name of “Alice,” tells the reader, in this novel, Living Dead Girl written by Elizabeth Scott, which is told from the main character’s point of view. “Alice” is speaking on how she did not how lucky her life was before she was abducted. Throughout the novel, “Alice” describes what she does/has been doing ever since she was kidnapped. Broken, obedient and struggling to accept her new life, “Alice” has been living with her kidnapper, who goes by the name Ray, ever since she was 10 years old after he had kidnapped her while she was on a school field trip to the aquarium. It is not long before she eventually realizes that

Ray had kidnapped young girls a numerous amount of times, as “Alice” was not the first girl that he had kidnapped. It can be assumed that Ray likes his kidnapped victims to stay young. He forces “Alice” to repeatedly wax herself completely and often times, he forces her to wear lacy, white dresses. Later in the novel, it is implied that the only reason Ray is like this is because of his mother. Ray explains to “Alice” that his mother would repeatedly punish him and eventually, she would begin to sexually abuse him. His mother had affected him so much to a point where he has nightmares on different nights regarding his mother. She had passed away not too long ago, due to falling asleep while holding a cigarette. However, “Alice” mentions to the reader that Ray once told her that his mother had never smoked. This could show that maybe Ray had snapped on his mother and killed her, but covered his actions up. Because of what Ray tells “Alice” and although he never mentions it, “Alice” could have been the name of his mother. “Alice” is not the first Alice. Before her, there was another “Alice” and before that “Alice,” there was another one. Perhaps, the only reason why Ray hurts these girls is to get back at his mother. Even though he had presumably murdered his own mother, this could show that he had held that built up anger for so long and finally released it. However, he still holds a grudge on what she had done to him, so since killing her was not enough for him, he decided to take his held in anger and hatred towards his mother and out on poor, innocent