Behind a violent statistic

Press, 1 February 1986, Page 20

Behind a violent statistic

Eva. By Robyn Friend. Penguin, 1985. 193 pp. $10.95 (paperback). (Reviewed by Joan Curry) This is a terrible story. It is about domestic violence, something that people who are not involved can never quite understand. Statistics are impersonal and are generally accepted with a kind of cold concern. What, after all, can anyone do about X numbers of battered and abused women and children? And why do the women, at least, put up with it? Then you are confronted with the story of Eva. Trapped by the war in labour camps in Poland and Germany, raped at 11 by a couple of soldiers, married in Australia after the war to an immigrant like herself who punched and kicked the hell out of her for 30 years, Eva finally killed her husband and collected a three-year prison sentence for manslaughter. Eva’s nature, upbringing and beliefs allowed all this to happen. She believed in the sanctity of marriage. She believed that a bad father was

better than no father to her four children. She believed that women should submit, obey, be soft, pliant, forgiving, understanding, enduring at all costs. She believed the brute would change. She believed him when he smiled and apologised. She believed he loved her. She believed it was her fault that he hit her, and felt shame and humiliation and told no-one what was going on. For 30 years she believed all this. Finally one day when he tried to drown her in the bath while he raped her with a hammer, she hit him with the hammer and killed him. Still she loved him, and still she felt guilty and humiliated. It is hard to understand why Eva and her battered sisters put up with the violence and hard not to feel exasperated, along with the police, social workers, and wellmeaning friends, when the victims refuse to be helped. But after reading this book it is just a little easier to understand the sad truths behind those cold statistics.