Samantha Geimer: The Girl : A Life in the Shadow of Roman Polanski (a book)

Samantha Geimer : The Girl : A Life in the Shadow of Roman Polanski. Cover photograph of Samantha Geimer at 13 by Roman Polanski.

Samantha Geimer : The Girl : A Life in the Shadow of Roman Polanski. Together with: Lawrence Silver and Judith Newman. First Atria Books hardcover edition. ISBN: 978-1-4767-1683-1, 1476716838. New York : Atria Books, 2013

Simon & Schuster: "In this searing and surprising memoir, Samantha Geimer, "the girl" at the center of the infamous Roman Polanski sexual assault case, breaks a virtual thirty-five-year silence to tell her story and reflect on the events of that day and their lifelong repercussions."

"March 1977, Southern California. Roman Polanski drives a rented Mercedes along Mulholland Drive to Jack Nicholson's house. Sitting next to him is an aspiring actress, Samantha Geimer, recently arrived from York, Pennsylvania. She is thirteen years old."

"The undisputed facts of what happened in the following hours appear in the court record: Polanski spent hours taking pictures of Samantha-on a deck overlooking the Hollywood Hills, on a kitchen counter, topless in a Jacuzzi. Wine and Quaaludes were consumed, balance and innocence were lost, and a young girl's life was altered forever-eternally cast as a background player in her own story."

"For months on end, the Polanski case dominated the media in the US and abroad. But even with the extensive coverage, much about that day-and the girl at the center of it all-remains a mystery. Just about everyone had an opinion about the renowned director and the girl he was accused of drugging and raping. Who was the predator? Who was the prey? Was the girl an innocent victim or a cunning Lolita artfully directed by her ambitious stage mother? How could the criminal justice system have failed all the parties concerned in such a spectacular fashion? Once Polanski fled the country, what became of Samantha, the young girl forever associated with one of Hollywood's most notorious episodes? Samantha, as much as Polanski, has been a fugitive since the events of that night more than thirty years ago."

"Taking us far beyond the headlines, The Girl reveals a thirteen-year-old who was simultaneously wise beyond her years and yet terribly vulnerable. By telling her story in full for the first time, Samantha reclaims her identity, and indelibly proves that it is possible to move forward from victim to survivor, from confusion to certainty, from shame to strength." (Simon & Schuster)

AA: An important and illuminating book by Samantha Geimer, published four years before the global Me Too movement.

Sexual abuse by Roman Polanski was harrowing enough, but that is only the beginning of Samantha Geimer's account of her 36 year ordeal.

Arguably, far worse abuse took place in the miscarriages of justice and in the media harassment suffered by Samantha Geimer and her family.

To state this does not diminish Polanski's guilt and responsibility one bit.

But it helps understand why women who suffer sexual harassment and exploitation prefer to stay silent.

Even today, in Finland's current "Spedegate" debate, women who testified acts of sexual violence by the top entertainer Spede Pasanen, were insulted and vilified.

Media attention can be the worst punishment.

Nobody wants to become famous as a rape victim of a celebrity.

A rape trial can be worse than the rape itself.

I am grateful for Samantha Geimer for this direct, honest and dignified memoir.

Everyone commenting on l'Affaire Polanski should read this book. Judging by what has been written, nobody has.