Calling Home [Mass Market Paperback]

Michael Cadnum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1993

Everybody thinks that Peter's best friend has disappeared, but only Peter knows the truth--Mead is dead, and Peter himself is to blame. He tells no one what he knows. Instead, Peter calls Mead's distraught parents from pay phones, impersonating their son. As time passes, daily life becomes a nightmare for Peter. Can he tell the truth before it destroys him?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Limpid prose and an imaginative use of metaphor make this problem novel stretch beyond just another entry in the genre. Underachieving, drinking, and at odds with his single parent, Peter hides a terrible secret: his best friend Mead is dead, and it is Peter's fault. Confused and depressed, Peter calls Mead's family, pretending to be the dead boy. Peter is not insensitive, however, despite his failings, as he tries to behave morally in a world that offers little guidance or encouragement. Reminiscent of Larry Bograd's Bad Apple , this novel presents a compelling first-person look at a troubled urban youth that offers no easy outs for either protagonist or reader. Cadnum's writing deftly captures Peter's alienation without losing track of his very real--and very human--confusion. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 8-12-- "Impersonating the dead is easy," muses Peter, an alcoholic high school senior, as he begins to relate his nightmarish experience of accidentally killing his best friend and then dealing with his guilt by assuming Mead's identity and calling the boy's worried parents to assure them their son is okay. What Peter discovers is that impersonating the dead is "easy" only when you've tuned out your own feelings and turned off your environment. Nothing matters to Peter; he fails school tests and detaches himself from his single-parent mother; his father, who wants his son to live with him; his girlfriend; and his friend Lani. He lives his days with alcohol and his nights without sleep. Finally, he confesses the truth to Lani and her lawyer father, who gets him needed legal and psychiatric help. Still, though, Peter is deeply haunted by the voice of his slain alter ego. Through the prism of descriptive poetic images, Peter reveals the dark details of his sleepwalking life. But the portrait of him that readers carry from this intriguing novel is so confusing and fragmented that they really know very little more about what makes him tick after finishing it than before they met him. An engaging idea that is not fully realized. --Jack Forman, Mesa College Library, San Diego
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (July 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140345698
• ISBN-13: 978-0140345698
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,366,670 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Cadnum is the author of thirty-five books, including the National Book Award finalist The Book of the Lion.  A two-time Edgar Allen Poe Award nominee, and an award-winning poet, Cadnum's work is widely acclaimed.

He lives in Albany, California, across the bay from San Francisco, with his wife Sherina.

For more of the latest on Cadnum and his work visit his website www.MichaelCadnum.com
 

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars "Just one more drink ...", June 17, 2007

By 

Raymond Mathiesen (Armidale, N.S.W., Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Calling Home (Mass Market Paperback)

Michael Cadnum usually writes historical fiction but in this novel he struggles with the challenges of social realism. The book revolves around the theme of alcohol and drug addiction.

At it's best points <Calling Home> bristles with emotional authenticity, for example, the conversation betweens Peter, the main character, and his mother when he returns home from a visit to his estranged father's place. Unfortunately Cadnum sometimes fails in his aims. At the beginning of the book he struggles, in the space of one brief chapter, to make the character Mead appear as a life-loving, best friend that everyone would like to know. Instead Cadnum only produces melodrama. The book is only 138 pages long and would have greatly benefited from more text being devoted to establishing this friendship, which is central to the story.

In these days of the craze for unrealistic, teen horror novels more books of this type need to be written. There is nothing wrong with escapism but fiction can encourage the young to think about and meet the challenges of real life. <Calling Home> is certainly not a bad effort and deserves appause.

4.0 out of 5 stars "Just one more drink ...", June 17, 2007

By 

Raymond Mathiesen (Armidale, N.S.W., Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Michael Cadnum usually writes historical fiction but in this novel he struggles with the challenges of social realism. The book revolves around the theme of alcohol and drug addiction.

At it's best points <Calling Home> bristles with emotional authenticity, for example, the conversation betweens Peter, the main character, and his mother when he returns home from a visit to his estranged father's place. Unfortunately Cadnum sometimes fails in his aims. At the beginning of the book he struggles, in the space of one brief chapter, to make the character Mead appear as a life-loving, best friend that everyone would like to know. Instead Cadnum only produces melodrama. The book is only 138 pages long and would have greatly benefited from more text being devoted to establishing this friendship, which is central to the story.

In these days of the craze for unrealistic, teen horror novels more books of this type need to be written. There is nothing wrong with escapism but fiction can encourage the young to think about and meet the challenges of real life. <Calling Home> is certainly not a bad effort and deserves appause.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Calling Home, December 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Calling Home (Mass Market Paperback)

Peter and Mead were best friends until one day They got in an argument and Mead dropped the bottle of alcohol they were sharing. Peter attacked and killed him not really meaning to. He begins to worry about what Meads parents will do because his dad is really sick. He eventually calls Mead's parents on pay phones and every time talked to his mother. Will they ever catch on to him?