TITLE: Cut
AUTHOR: Patricia McCormick
PUBLISHER: Push
PUBLISHED DATE: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0545290791
PAGES: 176
Cut is the story of Callie, a 15 year old girl who cuts herself, and is subsequently sent to live in a residential mental health center with girls with various mental health, substance abuse, and behavioral disorders. The story is told from Callie's perspective, and reads a bit like "Girl Interrupted", just imagine the characters are younger and Callie isn't cutting to kill herself, just to relieve her own emotional pain.
The book is solid.
A quick and easy read. I felt squirmish reading her descriptions of cutting herself - but what else could I have expected!? The book is appropriately titled "CUT"! I knew she wasn't talking about cutting paper! But it was eye opening about why young girls may do this. Reading the book inspired me to do my own research on how prevalent of an issue this is, and it's huge. Not only do I know young women, personally who engage in self injury, but teens cutting themselves seams to be a rising trend. This book was published in 2011, but as of this July, the Wall Street Journal published a piece about how schools around the country are responding to the phenomenon. Whether a teen does or doesn't cut themselves...this book is a conversation starter, and one that people cannot afford to ignore.
Recommendation: Read it.
Audience: Young Adults