Name: Abroad
ISBN: 9780345813664

Katie Crouch

"A young Irish woman studying abroad in Italy is murdered under bizarre circumstances"-- Provided by publisher.

Abroad

"A young English woman studying abroad in Italy is murdered under bizarre circumstances"--

A Novel

ngl i was bored for most part of this but slay i love clairetaz

Elda Mengisto

"I wish it weren't true. I wish I could tell you I was a perfect person. That we were all perfect people. Especially since Claire and I have both been so flattened by time...But, you see, Claire and I--as well as Jenny, Luka, and Anna--we were real live women with brains and souls and beating hearts. It meant even though we loved one another, we often fouled things up." (265)

This particular quote sums up "Abroad" in a nutshell, inspired by the murder of Meredith Kercher and the subsequent trials of Amanda Knox. Rather than go and focus on the media circus and the legal stuff itself, Katie Crouch turns the story on its head and writes the murder from the victim's perspective. In the two months which precede the tragedy, Tabitha Deacon (or "Taz" for short) goes to Italy on a year abroad, in which she encounters the B4--a group of posh girls who have access to the best parties. While she finds belonging, a dark secret lingers upon them all, juxtaposed with the sacrifices made by ancient societies.

I came into this with a substantial familiarity with the case--I knew the characters involved, along with how the trial processed. To see Crouch reinterpret the story in her own way was quite interesting to see--her darker take on Tabitha's time on Italy stood out. Beyond the halcyon world Grifonia (expy Perugia), we see such colorful The scenes in which Tabitha interacts with the B4 takes a lot text and description; for the scene in the cathedral, "All the pews had been ripped away, leaving only the black-and-white marble floor, which someone had polished to a wet-looking shine. Everyone--young and old, male or female--was in black and white, as if utterly bled of color this night..."(42). The amount of wealth involved is seen not only through the parties, but also in the sexual encounters the girls have.

Speaking of which, I didn't think the girl making out with the Italian guy would be Claire (the American expy). For her character, there was something about her spirit which got to me. "Her loveliness grew fourfold by the end. Yet upon our first encounter, she was clumsy as a puppy, knocking into a lamp here, the counter there" (50). I was also touched with the scene in which Claire takes care of Tabitha after a night out--she also admonishes the B4 when they don't. In the real world, the two girls were seen as polar opposites--one a monogamist, the other a pleasure seeker. Crouch, on the other hand portrays them as both girls seeking for something more from their day to day lives. And it's seen how both girls interact with each other.

Crouch is a good writer--she not only describes the hedonistic world that Tabitha leads herself into, but also her ordinary life. From the last time she sees her father in Lucran to her friendship with Babs, we got a feel about what she was like beyond the shadow in the headlines. One scene which stood out which made her perspective valuable was a scene with Claire and their two Italian housemates. There, Claire puts the figs in the sink while everyone left, whereas Tabitha imagines them eating happily together as girls. Tabitha justifies this by saying "But soon blood would flow, and the others would, knowingly or not, change the truth" (124). It's interesting. Another one which stood out was her hook-up with Marcello in the church, where "his lips did, indeed, taste of salt. And when that essence was released behind my teeth, something permanent changed in me. A sort of breaking" (184). It's an interesting sensation--when combined with the taboo involved, is fascinating.

As for the praise that called it a "psychological thriller", I didn't get that much of it. The incorporations of Etruscan history and the girls sacrificed as "The Good Death" hinted at the history involved, but it didn't make the stakes more dramatic. If anything, I thought that the drama would be petty, with the horror of getting caught because of a hidden secret. The climax of the story, in which Ervin Bogdani kills Tabitha and she bleeds out before Colin comes over and reveals himself as a member of the Compagnia, was a bit hollow. To leave Tabitha alone and thinking of her life as she dies would be stronger, in my opinion--to solidify how Claire didn't kill her out of spite or anything. The following quote solidifies it with "And it was love, between Claire and me. We had done this horrible thing to each other, yet her cries were the last human sounds I heard on earth, and at the time there was no one else I'd rather had near. And I needed to hear something." (275). Then again, it was weird having her as a bystander, especially with what would happen next.

Overall, "Abroad" is a solid book about youth and tragedy, coming over from the most unexpected of places. Crouch does a good job in humanizing the two women involved, along with painting a picture of the scene it takes place. What's lacking is how the Compagnia is added towards the end, along with the murder itself. There's a lot to go through that didn't make it into the book, which prevents it from going to good to great. (7/10)

Abroad

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