2-3-4 Challenge Book Discussions #2 discussion

Gina tries to communicate secret information about the hijackers to Max and pays a heavy price as a result, being beaten and gang raped while Max and the team had to witness the event. Your thoughts about this scene?

Of all the scenes in all these books, I hated this one the most.

It was a brutal scene to hear. It was realistic, even though it made my stomach turn. For me, it was a powerful yet heart-wrenching scene.

I got emotional all over again. The sad thing is, they were going to rape her even if she hadn’t “betrayed” them. These guys were hard core Kazbekistanis who had strict rules for women and there she was wearing shorts. They were always going to “teach her a lesson.”

I do not know how Max held it together but he did it for Gina. Poor Sam. He’s got such a big heart. For the team to have to see and listen to that was almost as horrible as what she went through.

This scene was completely unnecessary and added nothing to either the characterization or to the plot. It seems to have been added for shock effect.

It really irritates me when an author builds up a strong and resilient heroine and then uses the rape trope to ostensibly demonstrate her overcoming adversity and growing as a person. There are other ways to do this, as well as showing the empathy of other characters, without resorting to degrading the heroine.

It didn’t seem gratuitous to me as it showed Kazbekistani men’s disdain of women, even though they wore an acceptable veneer. They wanted to demean Gina and break her spirit, knowing that they could be seen, but it had the opposite effect. Even during that horrifying rape, Gina held her own and it was important for her to walk off that plane on her own. I ended up admiring her even more if that was possible.

I agree with Jonetta. It didn't seem gratuitous to me either. I work with a man from Persia. We've had many discussions about the way middle eastern men deal with women especially western women. He said his American wife would not survive because she is too outspoken.

For me, including the rape scene just so Gina could walk off the plane with her head high adds nothing to her character because it had already been well established that she is intelligent, determined and strong.

Likewise using the rape to highlight the terrorists' disdain for women was also unnecessary. It is obvious throughout the book that Kazbekistani culture and the terrorists view women as inferior.

This is just my opinion. Rape is a serious crime and I think that an author should have a very clear and valid reason for including it their work, especially in a romance novel. For me, those reasons were not strong enough in this case.

You make good points.

Sharon wrote: "You make good points."

Thanks
It's a pet peeve of mine, lol! I get a bit carried away :)