"The Atonement Child" is one of those books that will stick with you forever. Probably every woman has some sort of unwanted "attention" during her life. Hopefully, usually, it's not a full on rape by an unknown stranger in the dark, in the open, leaving the woman completely exposed. This book follows Dyna, while at college she is raped by an unknown man while walking home. In her denial and trauma, she refuses the morning after pill given to her by the hospital. As often happens in books or movies of rape, she becomes pregnant. She continues her denial for many weeks, until she can no longer deny the obvious. She decided to carry and keep the baby.
Though I am sure the intent of the book was to promote pro-life, the trauma and struggles that Dyna endures are horrifying. The author does not hold back on how awful any of it is. It actually led me to re-affirm my pro-choice status. How anyone can ask someone who has been through all of that to carry a baby conceived in that way is beyond me. Yet even though Dyna decides to keep the baby, it is written in a way that makes the reader not think less of Dyna or the baby. It is her baby and her choice. If the woman can see past how the child came to be and love it as a mother should, then by all means she should keep the baby. Her Choice. As it should be.
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