Nina Cristofori
The Cellar
By Natasha Preston
In my last blog posted on December 31, 2017, I revealed how a girl named Summer was kidnapped and imprisoned in her kidnapper's cellar. Her name was changed to Lily and she became a new member of the kidnapper, Clover's family.
Three months have passed since Lily was thrown in the cellar with Rose and Poppy. Slap, after punch, after kick, after scream, the girls trapped in the cellar continue to be abused by the deranged man. Clover bought the girls their own flowers specific to their flower names, whether it be Poppy, Rose, or Lily. When the flowers began to wilt in the enclosed cellar, the girls payed for it. Clover would scream, “ You didn’t look after them...you let them die” (95), and he slapped the girls across the face while they were begging for forgiveness. Lily got it the worst when he punched her in the face, leaving her with a bruised eye and bloody mouth. To make matters worse, Lily was raped by Clover. She had prayed that she would never be touched sexually by him, and would be saved before then, but her wishes did not come true. Lily and the other girls were living a nightmare, not a fairytale. Lily asked herself, “ Why didn’t I fight him? I didn’t want it, but I didn’t do anything to even attempt to stop it. Would it have been worth my life? Yes. Knowing I had done nothing made me feel sick, dirty, and worthless” (176). Lily would continue to persevere on, keeping her family and boyfriend Lewis in her mind. A new Violet was brought into the “family” and she was as rebellious as the old Violet. She tried attacking Clover, and ended up with broken ribs. If it had not been for Rose convincing Clover that Violet was scared and just trying to protect the rest of the flowers, he would have killed her. The new Violet may have gotten off, but one of Clover’s co-workers wouldn’t. Christy was her name, and she was sleeping with their boss, who had a wife and kids. Clover was disgusted by this, and it brought memories of him and his mom walking in on his dad in bed with another woman. Clover broke into Christy’s house and stabbed her repeatedly indicating, “death is your punishment” (214), and disposed of her in the nearby canal.
Three months have passed since Lily was thrown in the cellar with Rose and Poppy. Slap, after punch, after kick, after scream, the girls trapped in the cellar continue to be abused by the deranged man. Clover bought the girls their own flowers specific to their flower names, whether it be Poppy, Rose, or Lily. When the flowers began to wilt in the enclosed cellar, the girls payed for it. Clover would scream, “ You didn’t look after them...you let them die” (95), and he slapped the girls across the face while they were begging for forgiveness. Lily got it the worst when he punched her in the face, leaving her with a bruised eye and bloody mouth. To make matters worse, Lily was raped by Clover. She had prayed that she would never be touched sexually by him, and would be saved before then, but her wishes did not come true. Lily and the other girls were living a nightmare, not a fairytale. Lily asked herself, “ Why didn’t I fight him? I didn’t want it, but I didn’t do anything to even attempt to stop it. Would it have been worth my life? Yes. Knowing I had done nothing made me feel sick, dirty, and worthless” (176). Lily would continue to persevere on, keeping her family and boyfriend Lewis in her mind. A new Violet was brought into the “family” and she was as rebellious as the old Violet. She tried attacking Clover, and ended up with broken ribs. If it had not been for Rose convincing Clover that Violet was scared and just trying to protect the rest of the flowers, he would have killed her. The new Violet may have gotten off, but one of Clover’s co-workers wouldn’t. Christy was her name, and she was sleeping with their boss, who had a wife and kids. Clover was disgusted by this, and it brought memories of him and his mom walking in on his dad in bed with another woman. Clover broke into Christy’s house and stabbed her repeatedly indicating, “death is your punishment” (214), and disposed of her in the nearby canal.
Clover’s progression as a character has gotten more insane by the second. He has this ideology that all cheaters, prostitutes, and “whores” as he would say, need to be disposed off so he contributes to this cause by killing them. He believes they have done so much wrong but fails to acknowledge what he is doing is catastrophically worse. His idea of love is trapping girls in his basement, and raping them--he is “saving” them. What Clover really needs to be doing is saving the girls from himself.
This book is a thriller for sure, and you will never be able to predict what happens next because it gets more shocking and sickening by the page! If you enjoy suspenseful books, this is the book for you! Natasha Preston does not fail to keep readers intrigued and on their toes. Her use of flashbacks, gives more insight to readers of why things happened, and her use of perspectives allows readers to understand the character’s feelings and lives more. I cannot relate to anything in this book on a personal level, but in society today we see the horrible occurrences of domestic violence, kidnapping, and murders almost everyday. We also have psychotic people like Clover roaming the streets, and they must be stopped and persecuted for their crimes! Clover works for the legal system, which is all the more demented, but it conveys that even in our society today, not all people working for the legal system are “good guys”. It’s sad but true that you never really know the intentions of someone; people can be so deceiving.
I love this book in it’s entirety. I look forward to reading it, and although I may get frustrated with outcomes in the book, it makes me more active in the reading of it. I don’t know how the girls in the book keep sitting at dinner and conversing with this monster despite him abusing them physically and mentally. I know their lives are on the line, but are they really living, trapped in that cellar anyways? The girls are too reliant on their loved ones finding them and not planning together how they are going to get out. As I continue to read on, I will keep you posted on what happens next!
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