Let's Kick Things Off with a Book Review - The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry
Yes I know I said this was centred mostly around films - but in keeping with the intention to broaden out into books, tv shows and games - I’m doing my first ever book review.
The best thing I’ve bought in recent years is my kindle, I resisted buying a digital e-reader for a really long time - I echo the cries of book-lovers worldwide “I love being able to hold a book” - and I do. But I simply can’t find space to house all the books I have read. As much as it pains me, my kindle is convenient and I can read in bed without the light on (bad for my eyes, brain waves etc - I know) and it’s super convenient for travelling. I will occasionally buy a physical book but kindle life is convenient; the most flawed but most craved facet of modernity. But with that out of the way, let’s get stuck into 'The Perfect Child’.
I get most of my book recommendations nowadays from BookTok, and this was one of the more recommended ones that popped up. As with most of the content I will post, please be aware of spoilers.
Christopher and Hannah Bauer are two medical professionals who are tasked with caring for an abused child that lands in the emergency room where they work - Janie. She’s a mute, with violent outbursts and was found in a trailer near her dead mother. Christopher and Hannah are struggling with fertility issues, so when the opportunity arises to care temporarily for Janie, Christopher jumps at the chance. Despite Janie's serious developmental issues, she latches on to Christopher almost immediately and appears to be a happy, content girl in Christopher’s presence. She is more apprehensive of Hannah, but Piper - the care worker assigned to Janie assures them that Janie will eventually ‘grow through’ her attachment issues. Temporary fostering develops into permanent guardianship, although Hannah still remains uneasy about the decision. From here on, the descent into madness begins - for all parties involved. Chapters are split across three perspectives; Christopher’s rose-tinted glasses view, Hannah’s conflicted inner monologue and Piper’s interview with police about the events that unfold. It’s clear from the beginning there is a dire event involving the Bauers.
Hannah’s relationship with Janie is fraught with high-tension and impossibly difficult situations; from Janie refusing to acknowledge Hannah’s presence - by whispering to Christopher in front of Hannah, to just outright ignoring Hannah’s instructions or displays of affection. Christopher on the other hand dismisses Hannah’s concerns by talking down to her - stating that Janie’s only a child, she can’t manipulate the situation because of her naivety and age. Hannah doesn’t accept this and starts compiling evidence to prove her perception. A chance encounter with Janie’s grandmother during the adoptive process plants the seeds that Janie isn’t quite the innocent victim in all of this - stating plainly that Janie is evil; a product of the devil. Christopher and Hannah attend therapy with a psychologist with a strong background in abuse cases. With the therapist’s advise, they slowly and surely start to break down Janie’s violent tendencies, to a point where it seems that they are on the road to becoming a “normal” family. However, trying to get Janie into school undoes this work - she reverts back into toileting issues and violence, and in a chilling line when Janie is asked about why she pushed one of her classmates off a slide in the playground resulting in him breaking his arm - Janie responds that she likes to see what it looks like when people cry.
Later on, in a bit of the book I wish I hadn’t read - and could see it coming from a mile off, the Bauers get Janie a kitten to help with her attachment issues whilst trying to identify a new school for her. Janie abuses the kitten and incomprehensibly, and mainly Christopher, dismisses this as a one off event. Inevitably the side story of the kitten goes exactly the way you expect it to, resulting in the kitten’s death at the hands of Janie. Alongside this - Hannah and Christopher find themselves expecting their own child after years of unsuccessful pregnancies.
When their baby, Cole, finally arrives, Hannah descends further into a pregnancy, new mother, postpartum depression cycle fuelled by obsessive thoughts about Janie and Cole who cries constantly. She becomes incredibly hostile toward Janie; documenting her obsessive thoughts in her new baby journal. Describing Janie as a monster, pure evil - this then becomes neglect - locking Janie in her room all day, leaving her to her own destructive devices until it all finally culminates in a violent incident involving Hannah, Janie and Cole - the latter is found blue and not breathing on the bathroom floor.
From here - the Bauers lives and the lives of those close to them, namely Alison - Hannah’s sister, completely unravel in a hellish sequence of events. Not being a parent myself - I can’t imagine what I would do in this situation, but the concept of having feelings towards your child that aren’t centred around unconditional love have always been a topic that is not nearly explored enough - which reminds me that I’ve yet to see ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ which deals with a similar issue - what to do if you hate your own child.
The Perfect Child doesn’t flinch from showing how abuse or at least the conditions of abuse can manifest into a complete breakdown of character, environment and emotions. It’s written in a really straight forward way - no third person perspectives, we’re hearing from the characters in the midst of this. It’s literally quite easy to read given the horrific topics covered. But it’s chilling and thought provoking. The narrative falters slightly where Christopher is concerned, he states many times that Hannah is the most important part of his life, but the way he treats her and speaks to her says otherwise. He is totally blind to Janie’s destructive presence, writes off animal abuse as quickly and carelessly as most normal parents would write off a minor behavioural infraction. Christopher is frustrating, and I can’t quite believe that someone as educated and as stable as he appears to be would simply dismiss concerns from his wife, his family, professionals. But I’m guessing this is the point - unconditional love for a child vs. the taboo of not liking, or even being frightened of your own child. Christopher pays dearly for his inaction and as a consequence, he loses a part of his wife. The part of Hannah that exists at the beginning, a subtle optimism, the innocence of purely being a medical professional when dealing with the most traumatised people, the adoration she has for her husband, dies when everything unravels. By the end, Hannah is there in body (albeit her body bears the scars of her breakdown), but her mind is destroyed - tainted by her experience, you wonder if she’ll ever recover from the incidents and even if she does, can someone be so damaged to the point of no-return, which is obviously a huge theme in the book. Nature vs. nurture is in full swing here - and it does make you question that no matter how much “nurture” is present in someone’s life, is it going to make impact where it needs to the most?
The Perfect Child is a riveting read, it took me a while to get into it, but the last two thirds of the book I read over the course of about 4 hours. When it comes to trigger warnings - there’s a lot; sexual assault, violence, mental health, postpartum depression, self harm, animal abuse and child abuse, probably more but its fair to say that to read this, you’ll need mental resolve - I felt the doom wash over me when the Bauers bought Janie a kitten, as much as I wouldn’t want to subscribe to the trope around psychopaths and animal abuse, you knew it was coming. The fairly simple and straightforward writing style mirrors the background of the author, I believe Lucinda Berry is a child psychologist, the fairly clinical nature and approach makes this easy to read and most importantly, it leaves room for the reader to take what they want from the narrative. It doesn’t explicitly tell you either way to sympathise with certain characters or instructs you on how to feel about the highly complex topic at hand. No one is condemned and no one is celebrated. But the devastating consequences of inaction and action are plain.
If not already done so - I urge you to google The Perfect Child Epilogue, a video posted directly to the author’s Facebook page where she explains that her editor originally encouraged her to remove a final chapter. In the video, she does a brief read through of the final omitted chapter - which adds a slightly different dimension to the arc of the book. A sort of ‘Omen-esque’ finish to Janie’s narrative, the suggestion that what we’ve just read is a cycle that is doomed to repeat itself is made firmly clear in the unpublished epilogue chapter. I’d argue it does slightly tweak the intended narrative to become more like an outright horror novel, but the ending of the original book does leave you a little hanging.
The Perfect Child is a bleak look at adoption, abuse and the family unit. There is not much joy to be found in the pages of this novel, and when there is, you’re always wondering what is round the corner to destabilise the fleeting moments of happiness our characters experience. There is a consistent air of threat tightly woven with prickled horrible events that come out of nowhere. The shock value pays off, making The Perfect Child an uncomfortable but ultimately satisfying read worthy of the BookTok hype.