Oblivion

May 1, 2014

Gr 10 Up-"I killed him, I killed him, I killed him, I killed him." A year ago Calliope Knowles was found writing these words over and over on the wall of a bathroom in an abandoned apartment-she'd been there for a day and a half. Her abusive preacher father had disappeared along with a little girl from the community. Calliope has no memory of what happened that day, but she believes that she killed her dad. The only clues to the truth are in her sudden onset of graphomania: compulsive-seemingly nonsensical-writing. The more she writes, the more she seems to remember about the night her father and Hannah vanished. But how accurate are her memories? And what does she risk by seeking out the truth? Though the writing is a little self-conscious and flowery, it works. The story is told in first person, and the protagonist is a poet afflicted with an obsessive need to write. Nearly every time Calliope has a graphomania fit, "a teardrop splats" on the page, or "tears build" in her eyes, or she's "sobbing," or some other reference to crying. Despite this flaw, the mystery in the story is compelling, and the final revelatory scene is horrifying. John, Calliope's main love interest, is a little too perfect, and her foster sister, Lindsey, is too much of a hateful queen bee, but otherwise the characterization rings true. An exciting page-turner.-Heather M. Campbell, formerly at Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2014
Callie, 16, suffers from graphomania, a debilitating mental disorder characterized by an irresistible urge to write, in this psychological thriller. Callie's chaotic writing comes across as poetic, but her therapist and the local police believe she's trying to remember a traumatic event that occurred one year ago: Her father, fire-breathing pastor of a fundamentalist church, may have kidnapped a young girl. No one knows if either is dead or alive, but whatever Callie experienced was too disturbing to remember. Now living with a wealthy foster family, Callie copes with a newly strained relationship with her foster sister, who loves John--who finds himself far more attracted to Callie. Meanwhile, Callie meets Elijah for sex in a room above the old cafe where her mentally ill mother used to read tarot cards. As events trigger emerging memories for Callie, she begins to believe she can eventually solve the case. When she succeeds, however, far more trauma comes to light. Dawn weaves Callie's memories and her uncontrolled writing into a tapestry that slowly begins to form answers and uncovers a crime more monstrous than Callie could have foreseen or remembered. The story works on two levels: as a psychological mystery and as a story of Callie's rocky relationships with her sister and boyfriends, always grounding her difficulties in reality. Thoroughly compelling. (Thriller. 14-18)

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