So, week 1 here we go, first 36 pages done
I agree that the writer went too far, this is what bothered me:
I know that there are children and teenagers in the world who actually live like this, but I'm honestly disgusted at the idea that Faith would be stuck in a life like this. Her mother could not be more horrible, her teachers and the social worker are just completely uncaring and she's literally on her own. What kind of a man blames the victim for being bullied? 'You just give out that sort of vibe, honestly. You bring it on yourself.' That's a disgusting thing to say to a 16/17 year old girl who just saved herself from possibly being gang raped. What even happened to the guys who attacked Faith and Tommy? Nothing, I'm guessing. Not to mention what Tommy said to her in his letter, how horrible that he was saved from possibly being killed by a girl. God forbid!
All of this, I don't buy it. It's like he's doing "damaged child" by the numbers just stacking one thing upon the other.
Abusive, absent mother -
check
Abusive 'step father' -
check
Unrealistically openly disinterested/abusive teachers -
check
Bad reputation, hated by other girls -
check
Abandoned by everyone including one and only friend -
check
Super strict, super Christian, multiple foster kids, foster home that seems to be de rigueur in American broken home narratives -
check
Everything is her fault, according to everyone around her -
check
There is zero balance here. It is like he's trying too hard to give a broken background to Faith. Like she can't have anything that is remotely good in her life. Not.A.Single.Thing. I'm guessing V is going to die at some point because right now she poses the semblance of something positive in Faith's life. It's unrealistic to me. If he had given some nuance, maybe that Faith
thought that her teachers were thinking that about her, not saying it to her... just something so it doesn't come across as the 'pity Faith parade because she has nothing in her life, and this is how you make a killer FYI.'
Like Lyri said, we know very little of Faith's homelife in regards to what was said on the show, so this is just the writer making an amalgamation of assumptions of what a broken home should be like. So to me it's not upsetting so much as it's trite.
I liked the opening chapter because I felt it was an insight into how Faith views Buffy later on.
I don't mind the diary format because it puts us in Faith's head, however, because of everything above I find it hard to get a 'feel' for Faith. She doesn't feel like a real person, just the idea of a person.
Dreams: at first I thought the little girl she was dreaming about was herself. Since we find out the girl's name is Alex I guess that's not the case.
Ponder: Is V Faith's Watcher?
All in all a decent beginning. I'm not expecting much depth from this book so the above complaints are not damaging my ability to appreciate the book for what it is.