Jack A Ori, MSW’s New Young Adult Novel Offers Healing and Empowerment to Sexual Assault Survivors

Teenagers experience sexual assault at shockingly high rates. According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), females aged 16-19 are four times more likely than the general population to suffer a rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault.  And while many cases of sexual assault involve someone the survivor knows, statistics from the National Sexual Violence Research Center suggest that about 10 percent of girls are assaulted by strangers, while 28 percent know their perpetrator only slightly.  About .7 percent of boys also suffer an attempted or completed rape before their 18th birthday, and these statistics are much higher for gay and transgender youth.  

Jack A Ori’s Reinventing Hannah, a young adult novel about a teenager’s quest to rebuild her identity after she is sexually assaulted, offers this too-large group of kids a fictional friend who is going through the same traumatic experience that they are as well as giving parents a way to open difficult conversations about sexual assault with their kids through reading the book together.

Reinventing Hannah, which was named a semi-finalist in the 2020 Kindle Book Review awards, helps real-life survivors feel a sense of empowerment during their own healing journeys, according to reviews left on the book’s Amazon and Goodreads listings.

“Many sexual assault survivors, especially teenagers, feel powerless and alone. I’m thrilled that Reinventing Hannah is impacting so many lives positively,” Ori said. “I hope that in addition to enjoying the story, readers take advantage of the real-life resources I listed in the back of the book to help them along their own healing journey.”

One Goodreads review reads, in part, “I am trying hard to overcome…triggers and these kinds of books are helping. I loved this book and it was quite emotional for me.”

Another reads, “While I felt great empathy for Hannah, I was also inspired by her struggle and determination to find her own way through problems…”

And a review on Amazon reads, “This book will be a comfort to many who have suffered like Hannah as they witness her challenging journey, ultimately finding self-acceptance and love.”

Professional reviewers have also weighed in, with the Booklife Prize stating, “Ori is sensitive to trauma, to survival, to the defensive cruelty of teenagers, to the power dynamics that inform the ritual of victim shaming, and to how tensions from a traumatic experience can fracture even the sturdiest relationships.” 

And The Prairies Book Review also finds this novel to be empowering in its review: “Captivating prose and poignant emotions illuminate Ori’s sharp debut about a sexual-attack victim’s harrowing emotional journey… Hannah’s repressed rage and relentless agony is portrayed without any melodrama, strengthening the impact of her riveting story as the survivor of a sexual attack. A powerful YA book that deserves to be placed at school and library shelves.”

Visit this link to read all the reviews for Reinventing Hannah on Amazon in full: Reinventing Hannah on Amazon – Customer Reviews. Goodreads reviews can be found here: Reinventing Hannah Goodreads Page – Reviews

About Jack A Ori, MSW

Ever since beginning his gender transition journey in 2012, Jack A. Ori has been empowering young adults through stories to live life on their own terms more quickly and easily than he did.

Jack holds a Masters in Social Work from Columbia University and a Masters in Mental Health Counseling from the New School of Social Research. He has recently appeared on many podcasts dedicated to empowerment, including Ask Win and Anxiety Simplified,. He writes both fiction and non-fiction to encourage and empower young people; his latest novel, Reinventing Hannah, was named a semi-finalist in the 2020 Kindle Book Awards.