Blurb from the back: Callie cuts herself. Never too deep, never enough to die. But enough to feel the pain. Enough to feel the scream inside. Now she's at Sea Pines, a "residential treatment facility" filled with girls struggling with problems of their own. Callie doesn't want to have anything to do with them. She doesn't want to have anything to do with anyone. She won't even speak. But Callie can only stay silent for so long...
Cut is a young adult novel about a girl at a residential treatment facility- what landed her there and her life within the walls of an institution. I picked it up because I work at a RTF and a lot of my residents cut. I wanted to understand from their perspective, from inside the mind of a teenage girl who feels so much pain she knows no other way to deal with it. Granted, this is fiction, but I see it every single day and I must say- Patricia McCormick really did do her homework.
Callie runs. Callie cuts. Callie refuses to speak. Throughout the book you have to ponder why. What is she running from? What pain is she releasing from her superficial cuts? What is she hiding and how long can she hide behind her own wall of silence? Slowly we peel back the layers to find a troubled girl with a heavy burden on her shoulders. Understanding where she is coming from is easy- we all have troubles and we all have suffering in our lives. But why does she address this pain with self injurious behaviors?
Cutting releases pain for many people. Feeling the burn of skin opening and revealing the crimson color of blood. The pain of cutting relieves the internal pain because it brings that person back to reality- the reality of physical pain to numb the emotional pain taking over the mind.
Callie doesn't speak. Refusing to talk is a form of control and power. If you refuse to discuss a topic, then it can't be brought out and waved in front of your face. You don't have to face an issue if you won't talk about it... it is almost like out of sight out of mind. If i ignore the topic long enough, it will just go away. Refusing to speak is also a dissociative trait. Becoming so wrapped up in your own sorrow and pain, reliving experiences and thoughts in your mind, silence is the barrier that needs to be broken to remove yourself from the overpowering intrusive thoughts.
As readers, we struggle with Callie. We feel her pain and understand her thoughts. We feel empathy for her broken soul. Callie learns lessons throughout the book, but also teaches her audience. She teaches us to let go and move on. She teaches us about relationships and how human contact, no matter how small, can help us through our toughest times. And for those of us who have never before experienced life in a residential treatment facility, you see both the good and evil. We get a glimpse at how the population receiving treatment feels and how it looks from the inside.
All in all, I liked this book. I thought it showed cutting and pain in a new light- the protagonist takes us along for a ride. I also enjoyed how Callie experienced the RTF alone and how she experienced it with her peers. Cut is an easy read (literally speaking) but emotionally difficult, especially if you have any sort of tie to the subject. My biggest issue with the book is that it somewhat glamorizes cutting. Many books on the subject do. The blurb on the back says it all - "...never enough to die." Yes, maybe so, but I think the approach - cutting as a way to relieve the pain - is too much for young adults. Young adults are influenced by everything around them- I would hate to see this book end up in the hands of a depressed teen with little comfort and support from her family. While the book does not suggest cutting as a means to get through the pain, it does imply that cutting will release the hurt. Even with Callie landing in an RTF, a young adult going through pain and with nowhere to put it, the implied concept of cutting may be too much.
I recommend this book, but with caution. If you are allowing your teen to read it, kudos! I think they should. But make sure you take time to read it also, and discuss the book. Dig deep into the theme of pain and suffering finding a release. Communication is key.
xox
Also, I gave my nephews books of course! Kiernan is almost a year and Anthony will be a year in 2 weeks. I gave them both books that they can bring to church - one each of Ezra Jack Keats Snowy Day (the board book version). I also got them both "finger puppet" books - Kiernan got Little Reindeer and Anthony got Little Polar Bear. The finger puppets were a hit!
Okay, so I picked this book up because I've read Tucker Max on the internet... he blogs and shares all sorts of raunchy stories about his bachelor life. First let me say that I let my boyfriend read it before me (I was busy reading another book) and his first reaction was "Jenna, this is hilarious but it is completely disgusting and I don't want you to read it". Of course, I read it anyways. And let me tell you- it IS awful. Not awful like it is the worst book ever written, but awful because it is so incredibly dirty and demeaning towards women. Basically, I would ONLY recommend this book to my friends that I know VERY well and who I KNOW could handle the topics. The book is so X-rated with its content that I can't really share more than that. In short, only read this if you hate men and want some justification for that or you have the greatest man in your life and want to be reminded of how great he is. Or of course, read this if you just want to torture yourself.... or, if there are any men out there who read this blog, go ahead and read it and remind yourself that Tucker Max is totally disgraceful (and insanely funny)... :)
I just finished reading The Professors' Wives' Club by Joanne Rendell and must admit that I enjoyed it. It started out like a "typical" chick-lit novel (or so I thought) with its small introductions into the lives of four women who were battling their own demons. However, it quickly turned into a fast-paced mystery/scandal with a literary theme running strong throughout that kept me on the edge of my seat. Very rarely does fiction of this sort hold me captivated.
The traffic in Jersey was bad. But at least there weren't any large animals in it.
From the back: "The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood; brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under- maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic."
up girlie girl books. The last time I read any chick-lit was when I was in high school. Not to say that this brand of literature doesn't have its place- I just don't love reading these types of books. So, imagine my own surprise when I decided I needed a break from all of my mind benders and non-fiction novels and ended up picking up a book from the "hot summer reads" table at B&N. The tag line was what intrigued me - a story about friendship, motherhood, and writing. And it was set in the 1960s. Without giving the story away... it is a beautiful novel about friends who meet every week to grow and learn from one another. Their kids play together, their husbands work together, and they write together. It is a story about sisterhood - the bond formed between women. The book made me feel excited, enraged, happy, empathetic, disappointed, relieved, strong and a whole host of other things. I laughed, cried, and sang their praises. It was a great ride of emotions and the more I read, the more I was pulled in. I also loved the book because it discusses many notable novels and authors in literature. Books that I believe every person should read before they die (especially Jane Austen). I suggest this book to any woman - young or old, single or married, mother or not. The general pull on emotions will reach any type of woman.