Content warnings: Domestic abuse
A necessary gut-punch of a book that balances tragedy with renewal
A woman is killed by a family member or partner every eleven minutes, with homicide being one of the leading causes of death for women. Sometimes, the danger escalates when a woman tries to leave her abuser. With the enduring nature of facts such as these, the need for art that confronts them is ever strengthening. In Elvira Brigitte Isn’t Here, Paris Nolan heartbreakingly explores the lived experience of domestic abuse victims, equipped with eloquence and more than a little courage.
Elvira is a vibrant, promising young woman who is open to every possibility and strives for goodness wherever she can find or create it. She falls passionately in love with a young man, and at first it seems like they understand each other deeply and feel the same way about the world. They block out everything external and live only with and for each other. Soon, however, he—only ever identified as “he” in the story—begins to reveal a dark side.
He tries to isolate Elvira from her family and friends. He makes her feel like she has to apologize while he is at fault. He tries to change her into what he wants despite what she feels. His behavior is unsteady, seemingly depressive or bipolar. Elvira slowly recognizes the abusive nature of the relationship and tells him so, but this only makes things worse and the abuse turns physical.
It is grim subject matter, but the innocent style of the colorful illustrations provided by Nolan herself carries us along. It is a kind of artful trickery, this combination of adult bleakness and juvenile brightness. A similar feeling of tragic innocence is evoked by the rhythm and diction of Nolan’s prose and semi-verses. We could almost call Elvira Brigitte childish in her naivety, but no child could ever be so patient and forgiving:
“Love carried her through the days he felt low.
Pure bliss and ecstasy when he’d return with his glow.
Then again into his darkness, so she’d wait patiently outside his door,
Hoping he’d open it once more.”
Nolan very effectively uses simple spatial metaphors to represent psychological realities. The couple pulling away from the outside world is communicated as them moving to an island and living inside a cave. More intricately, when “he” loses control over his own actions, he goes inside a cage and leaves Elvira with the responsibility of holding the key.
The abusive male partner is not treated as a monster by the author, but as someone that is himself a victim of his psychology and past experiences. This issue is systemic as much as it is personal, and conditions like poverty and social isolation can exacerbate, or even trigger, abusive behavior. In this story. there is no villain getting his comeuppance. For that, the heroine’s victory is all the more impressive, even if bittersweet for all the innocence and potential lost.
Nolan signs off with a warning before listing the grim statistics of domestic violence. But her wise little book has by that point prepared us to come face to face with reality—and to make it through.
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