Age: Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
I find
myself drawn to novels about young adults in mental institutions. In fact, I
did a whole project on the subject while working on my master’s degree in
Writing for Children and Young Adults at Chatham College. Though I never spent
time in a mental hospital while a teenager, I have struggled with depression
and anxiety since high school and relate to the stories of people who have
reached the point of suicidal behavior. Reading stories of others, even
fictional others, who have suffered make me feel more normal. There are many
good books on the subject, and I have just discovered another one. I recently
attended a young adult author panel at my local independent bookstore
(Doylestown Bookshop) where I chatted for a while with author K.M. Walton. She
told me about her book Cracked, in
which a bully nicknamed “Bull” and his victim, Victor, both end up in a mental
institution at the same time. The book is told in dual perspective, jumping
from Bull to Victor every other chapter. This is an excellent way to tell this
story, and perhaps the only way that would be effective. By being in both boys’
heads, we can understand each of them and see the similarities in their lives
before they do. We see Bull’s miserable home life that has lead him to bullying
Victor. We see Victor’s uncaring parents that lead him to attempt suicide. When
the boys end up roommates at the hospital, we know why each of them is there,
but we get to watch as they slowly figure each other’s stories out.
What I find
most amazing in this book is Walton’s ability to make Bull’s character so sympathetic
right away. His story is arguably the more tragic of the two, and I found
myself torn between wanting him to find happiness and protection and wanting to
slap him for taking his sucky life out on someone else. The author writes each
character in such a way that we can feel like we know and understand them.
Though the story progresses in a somewhat predictable way (the boys find a
peace between each other in the end and have a better life waiting for them), I
enjoyed the whole read. I don’t know how Walton managed to write the voices of
troubled teenage boys so well, but they seemed liked real teens you could find
at a local high school. Whether you have had personal experience or not with
mental illness, bullying, or abuse, you should read this book to remind
yourself that people who seem fine are often crying out for someone to listen.
Maybe you can help.
Bibliographic
Information:
Walton, K.M.
Cracked. New York: Simon Pulse, 2012.
