Cut - Softcover

McCormick, Patricia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007335180 ISBN 13: 9780007335183

Publisher: Collins Flamingo, 2009

Synopsis

You say it’s up to me to do the talking. You lean forward and your black leather chair groans, like a living thing. Like the cow it was before somebody killed it and turned it into a chair in a shrink’s office in a loony bin...

Fifteen-year old Callie is so withdrawn that she’s not speaking to anyone – including her therapist at Sea Pines, known to its guests as ‘Sick Minds’ – the residential treatment facility where her parents and doctor send her after discovering that she cuts herself. Her story unfolds primarily through dramatic monologues, gradually revealing the family turmoil that led to her self-destructive behaviour.

About this title

Review:

“I read Cut in one breathless sitting, mesmerized by 15-year-old Callie whose silent struggle against self-destructive impulses captured my heart as well as my admiration. In her memorable debut novel, Patricia McCormick takes the reader on a journey through the geography of a teenager’s troubled mind. We watch as she summons the courage to face the inward forces that threaten her sanity and, perhaps, her very life. You will not soon forget a girl named Callie and this remarkable novel.”― Robert Cormier

“First-timer McCormick tackles a side of mental illness that is rarely seen in young-adult literature in a believable and sensitive manner. ... A thoughtful look at teenage mental illness and recovery.”― Kirkus

From the Back Cover:

”Most of the girls are anorexic. They're called guests with food issues. Some are druggies. They're called guests with substance abuse issues. The rest, like me, are called guests with behavioural issues. The nurses are called attendants. And the place is a residential treatment facility. It is not called a loony bin.”

Callie isn't speaking to anybody. Instead she watches and listens, absorbing and analysing everything that goes on at 'Sick Minds', the place where she was sent because she cuts herself.

Yet even as she continues to cut herself off from the rest of the world, Callie finds herself drawn into the lives of the other guests. And discovers she has power over life and death...

You say it's up to me to do the talking...

About this edition

• Publisher: Collins Flamingo
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0007335180
• ISBN 13: 9780007335183
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176