Abuse is one of the most distressing and least understood issues in the public eye.

Despite literature and other media resources that disseminate information about the history and psychology of abuse, there seems to be an over-arching, intrinsic sense that somehow the person being abused "deserves" the abuse. Compounding this problem is the inner voice in many abuse victims that says the very same thing: "I deserve this," "If only I do better, I won't get hurt . . . ," or "If I just try harder. . . ." The psychological ramifications of abuse run deep, but so do the psychological causes of the abusive relationship. In Dreamland, the reader gets to live through the actual experience of the abuse itself; it is powerful, straightforward, and honest. In depicting an abusive relationship from its inception to its end—or, at least, the beginning of the end—Dessen allows her readers...