A book every man should read
AUTHOR: Bri Lee
PUBLISHER: Allen and Unwin RRP: $29.99 REVIEWER: Tobi Loftus
WARNING: This review covers the topics of child abuse, sexual assault and rape.
Before Eggshell Skull, I thought I got it, but really I didn’t. I thought I understood the fear men can create, the inappropriate questions, the inappropriate touching. I thought I got it, but I didn’t. I don’t know if I can fully understand the fear that men can create for women, but Eggshell Skull brought me that one step closer.
Eggshell Skull will break you, but then it will bring the pieces slowly back together and somewhat give you hope.
Fundamental to the books premise is the legal principle Eggshell Skull, where if you punch someone in the head and they have a thin skull and are injured more because of that, the pre-existing thin skull condition is not a defence.
The memoir centres on the journey of the author, Bri Lee, a judges associate in the District Court of Queensland who has to sit through hundreds of hours of rape, sexual assault and child abuse trials as part of her job.
Lee and her judge went on circuit around regional Queensland, to areas such as Bundaberg, Warwick and Roma, where Lee witnessed the injustices complainants faced because of how old they were, what they were wearing, if the jury didn’t consider them the archetypal victim. Lee’s writing about this will leave you infuriated over how unfair it is.
The book exposes the shortcomings of our legal system and how it regularly lets victims of sexual crimes down.
But it’s Lee’s writing about her own case where the book shines through. As a child in late primary school, Lee was sexually assaulted by a close friend of her older brother. It is believed the perpetrator was in his late teenage years at the time of the offence.
Hearing sexual assault cases as part of her job gave Lee the courage to report what happened to her to police.
Lee provides a fascinating account of taking a perpetrator to trial and masterfully provides a fascinating insight filled with tension and emotion into her mind during one of the darkest times in her life. That’s not to say this book is without humour; there were several times she wrote about things she had said or done that made me chuckle and felt incredibly relatable.
As Helen Garner said on the cover of the book, this is a story about a woman who “finds her steel and learns to wields it”.
This is a book that will leaving you feeling both hopeful and exhausted. You won’t want to put it down. I felt exhausted when I finished this book and it took me quite a while to process it once I had finished.
If there is one book that you must read this year, this one is it. Hell, every man in Australia should be forced to read this book. Eggshell Skull provides an insight into an area many men will never have to experience, but our partners, mothers, sisters, friends, colleagues, that random woman you passed on the street would have experienced.