Alexis by Alexis Singer
At the age of sixteen, Alexis Singer was solicited by, manipulated by, and eventually became involved with a married thirty-seven-year-old man over the Internet. He coerced her into having cybersex with him and sending him explicit photos of herself.
In her debut memoir, Alexis Singer describes how she, a bright student at an arts school in Pittsburgh, first encountered an older man on a message board and how he posed as a friend and father figure who could support and advise her when her own father was physically and emotionally absent. Over the course of a year of online communication, Alexis became emotionally connected to and dependent on this man, whom she had never met. Alexis is the heart-stopping and raw account of Alexis's Internet affair, the turmoil and confusion that plagued her as she became more and more attached through her cyber encounters, and the dark details that ultimately led her to end the relationship. Alexis's recovery from the collateral damage of an affair gone awry continues to this day.
Review:
Alexis was my second Louder Than Words book and I'm so glad I decided to pick it up. Although intense and at times frightening, Alexis was a fantastic debut that I finished in a couple of hours.
To begin with, I really liked Alexis. It must have taken a lot of strength to write her story and share it with the world. I’ve never really understood how young girls get caught up with online predators, but Alexis was very eye opening and proved how one simple message can change someone’s life forever. Alexis was lonely and needed a distraction, and the internet provided just that. It was terrifying to realize there are people out there that would try and seduce a young girl. Alexis was soon caught up in speaking with this particular man and before she knew it things were getting out of hand, but she just couldn’t stop. I was constantly wondering- why is she going this far? Why isn’t she putting an end to this? By reading this memoir it really opened my eyes to how hard it is to extract yourself from a situation like that after you’ve gone one step too far. Alexis was a normal girl, like me, and she could be anyone. It made me rethink everything I’d ever known about online predators and how easy it is to fall subject to one.
I highly recommend picking this up. It’s an emotional and heart breaking read, that will hopefully make an impact on many teenagers today.
Overall: 4.25 out of 5 stars
August 2, 2010/HCI Teens/163 Pages/Young Adult
Source: Publisher
Other books in this series: Hannah, Rae, Emily,Chelsey, Marni
** I read this book and wrote this review awhile back, but I just realized I'd never posted it!**
That was a brave thing to do, writing her story like that. I hadn't heard of this book before. I think it's great that she decided to write a book about her experience, because, like you said, hopefully it'll help other teens to be careful. :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any of the Louder Than Words books, but I think the authors are very brave too! That takes a lot of strength to write it all down. As Charlotte says I hope as well that it helps other teens (and adults too). :)
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