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Monday, December 12, 2011 @ 1:42 AM PERMALINK

I don't know how or where to start reviewing this book. It is heartbreaking and disturbing yet I couldn't put it down. Here's why:

Tiger Tiger is a memoir written by 31 year old Margaux Fragoso. It chronicles her childhood and how she became victim to a pedophile named Peter from the time she was 7 until his death 15 years later.

Sometimes I read the news and wonder how come pedophiles manage to get away with abusing children for so many years without being caught.  Tiger, Tiger gives you an answer from a child's point of view.

Margo (as Fragoso refers to herself in the book) is a child with a troubled family. Her father is an alcoholic and prone of bouts of violence. Margo's mother is mentally unstable and has episodes that land her in the mental hospital. Growing up in a household like that made Margo resentful and full of rage.

When her mum and her meet Peter and his 'family' at the town swimming pool, Peter is quick to latch on to Margo's interest in animals and invites the pair to his house. He then works to develop a friendship with both Margo and her mother while waiting for the right time to strike.

The right time came in the form of a locked room in the basement on his birthday. Peter successfully manages to twist Margo's affection for him into what he wanted it to be, sexual gratification.

Reading Tiger, Tiger shows you how manipulative pedophiles are and how quick they are to latch on to a child's insecurity and need to be loved.

Many pedophiles like  Peter not only manage to manipulate children but also their families. Margo describes how her abuser worked to worm his way into the lives of the Fragoso family in order to keep in contact with Margo. Peter even manages to convince Margo's rightly suspicious father that the Fragoso family can depend on Peter for help.

Margaux takes time in describing the things Peter says or does to explain why Margo and Peter have to stay a secret. Peter is quick to use sweet words on the child ; something she is not used to at her own home. He uses examples of child brides overseas to prove to her that what they are doing is not wrong.

This is obviously incorrect as reader's watch as Margo's over sexualization eats into her personality  and affects her day to day life.

As the book progresses, Peter is described as trying to severe sexual relations with Margo. He tells her of his past and about all the other children he has abused before her. He puts down the ultimatum that they have to stop being sexual and it is Margo that demands differently.

When a social worker questions Peter and Stokeholm syndrom is brought up, it is denied by Margo and Peter although it seems painfully clear to the reader.

Fragoso has taken a lot of heat for the way the book is written as it seems to sympathize with Peter more than it should. Up until his suicide, Fragoso writes about feeling bad or guilty about how she treats Peter throughout his life.

You will find out eventaully find out what Fragoso really thinks about the matter all these years later in her afterword. She explains why she feels her book is relevant and how she views pedophiles now.

One thing is for sure, Peter, Margo and even Margo's own mother were all victims of sex crimes against children and it affected all of them throughout their lives.

Fragoso writes that pedophiles are masters of deception so much so that they even convince themselves that they are doing nothing wrong, this is what makes them so deadly.

In reading this book, you will be horrified. You will balk at what Margo had to go through and how it affected her, you will be amazed at how Peter himself acts like a child, how Peter displays guilt for his actions and most of all, you will be upset that Fragoso still displays affection for him. Pedophiles may become a little more humanized to you and you may resent yourself a little for it.

But remember this; its humans that make mistakes, and its humans that can be controlled and while this book just scratches the surface on the psychology of a pedophile, it suggests that maybe, just maybe science can progress one day to control them (if not correct them) 

You will also learn how pedophiles operate and how secrets only help to enable them.

While some say the book is overly drawn out and rough around the edges, I liked it and I suggest that if you are open to having your beliefs subtly challenged that you pick it up and see how it goes.

(I will warn you first though, there are some parts that I did have to skip because of Fragoso's attention to details regarding her sexual favors)

Labels: book review

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