Willow Tree and Olive essays

Willow Tree and Olive essays Willow Tree and Olive, by Irini Savvides, is about a girl named Olive Alexandropoulos. She is in year 12 and enjoying it with her friend Kerry. Everything looks okay in her life from afar. But when you get into Olive's head, you start to realise that nothing is okay. Olive is Greek, but at times she wishes that she wasn't. She regularly feels uncomfortable in a room with other Greeks, but no-ones notices. Unfortunately she had problem that she couldn't tell anyone. She went to the school counselor and confided in him that she couldn't stop eating, she hated her body and she thought that she was ugly. This continued until she had a regression one day. The regression happened after a lecturer came to her school and spoke about raping and sexual abuse. It is about then that the whole story comes out that when Olive was a little girl, about 5 years old, she was raped and sexually abused by an old man from her village and because of that feels unsafe and insecure. The story goes on about how she realises that it's not her fault at all, and as part of the healing process she is sent to Greece to stay with some relatives. She loves this time away and finally recovers from the trauma that has been tormenting her for most of her life. Not only that but she realizes what a beautiful place Greece is and is no longer ashamed of her country and background. I loved this story. It is excellently written with feelings and thought of every word. I think that this book is aimed at an audience of thirteen years and older, particularly females. It was an excellent book, have recommended it to my mum who also really enjoyed it and I would recommend it to everyone who has not already read it. The original idea came from wanting to write a story about survival in emotionally difficult circumstances and also wanting to explore my own dual culture . . . I wanted to show the strength of young adults when faced with great odds . . . I wanted ...