Cut (Collins Flamingo) [Paperback]

Patricia McCormick (Author)

Book Description

Series: Collins Flamingo | Publication Date: May 7, 2002

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 Fifteen-year old Callie is so withdrawn that she's not speaking to anyone -- including her therapist at Sea Pines, known to its guests as 'Sick Minds' -- the residential treatment facility where her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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Burdened with the pressure of believing she is responsible for her brother's illness, 15-year-old Callie begins a course of self-destruction that leads to her being admitted to Sea Pines, a psychiatric hospital the "guests" refer to as Sick Minds. Although initially she refuses to speak, her individual and group therapy sessions trigger memories and insights. Slowly, she begins emerging from her miserable silence, ultimately understanding the role her dysfunctional family played in her brother's health crisis.

Patricia McCormick's first novel is authentic and deeply moving. Callie suffers from a less familiar teen problem--she cuts herself to relieve her inner frustrations and guilt. The hope and hard-won progress that comes at the conclusion of the novel is believable and heartening for any teen reader who feels alone in her (or his) angst. Along with Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak and E.L. Konigsburg's Silent to the Bone, McCormick's Cut expertly tackles an unusual response to harrowing adolescent trouble. (Ages 14 and older) --Emilie Coulter --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

This first novel combines pathos with insight as it describes adolescent girls being hospitalized for a variety of psychiatric disorders: "The place is called a residential treatment facility. It is not called a loony bin," states Callie, the narrator, with characteristic grit. Callie does not speak aloud for most of the story, but directs her silent commentary chiefly to her therapist. Through this internalized dialogue, readers become aware of Callie's practice of cutting herself and, more gradually, how her cutting is a response to the dynamics of her damaged family. Similarly, the other girls' problemsDanorexia, overeating, substance abuseDcome to seem (both to themselves and to readers) like attempts to fight off parental or societal obliviousness to their needs: "It's like we're invisible," says a girl during a climactic scene. While running the risk of simplifying the healing process, this novel, like Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, sympathetically and authentically renders the difficulties of giving voice to a very real sense of harm and powerlessness. Refusing to sensationalize her subject matter, McCormick steers past the confines of the problem-novel genre with her persuasive view of the teenage experience. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Harper Collins Childs (May 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0007130317
• ISBN-13: 978-0007130313
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (368 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,130,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Patricia McCormick is a writer and former journalist and teacher of creative writing. "Cut" was her first novel. This was followed by "My Brother's Keeper", "Sold" (National Book Award Finalist) and "Purple Heart." She lives in New York City with her husband and two children.

"I grew up in a rather bland suburban development, not unlike the settings in my books. It was a place that, perhaps because of the sameness of all the houses, often made me feel different, out of place and lonely.

In particular, there's a scene in the opening of Cut where the main character, Callie, is coming home in the dark and sees 'houses with windows of square yellow light where the mothers are inside making dinner, and houses with windows of square blue light where the kids are inside watching TV.'

This is a memory straight out of my childhood from a lonely night where I was on the outside looking in on homes that seemed perfectly ordinary and therefore perfect."

For more information: http://www.pattymccormick.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/pages/Patricia-McCormick/150993641605301

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Superficial treatment of a deep subject., September 12, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Cut (Paperback)

I had expected more from this book when i bought it. After reading the summary on the back cover, i was hoping to read a serious novel that truly confronted the issue of self-injury (SI). Instead, i found the book to be lacking in depth and using SI as a gimmick to establish the lead character, Callie, in the setting of the book.
"Cut" is not a novel about the issue of cutting. It is a novel about a girl in an adolescent psychiatric ward. As written, the book is a very diluted version of "Girl, Interrupted," describing Callie's stay in the ward and some experiences with her therapist and with the other patients. With very little effort, this book could be rewritten as a story of a girl with an eating disorder or a substance abuse problem--the type of mental-health issue is unimportant to the plot.
If you are looking for a story about life in a psychiatric ward, written at a middle school level, this book is perfect and very readable. If, however, you are looking for a book for older teens or adults, or for a book specifically confronting the issue of self-injury, you will likely find "Cut" very disapppointing.

42 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Emotional and orginal, February 10, 2002

By 

Nancy E. "Nancy" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cut (Paperback)

15-year-old Callie has been institutionalized for what she's doing to herself. She cuts her wrists, arms, and hands and she doesn't know why. It could be her parents who don't know how to deal or her brother who is very sick or maybe something else. She doesn't know. But she's not willing to ask for help. In fact she's not talking at all. She doesn't say a single word in therapy, or group therapy where both girls with eating disorders, and drug addictions talk about their problems. As Callie starts to come out of her shell and speak in therapy a new girl comes to the clinic who cuts herself and shows off her scars with pride. Cut is amazing book about an issue that is rarely dealt with in teenage literature but is often dealt with in real life. If you enjoyed books such as Girl interupted and want to learn more about self mutilation and mental hospitals, or just read a great YA book, this is for you. I reccomend this to anyone who's a fan of realistic teenage books.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Self mutilation never sounded so bad, January 19, 2005

By 

Student "Bob" (Cedar Rapids, IA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cut (Paperback)

Patricia McCormick's Cut is a review of all major medical problems facing today's youth. Callie, a cutter, is sent off to a troubled youth center with other girls that each have unique reasons to be there, such as anorexia and bulimia.
The book tells the story of a girl dealing with her problem and quite frankly; I don't think the other does very well writing about the problem. The book doesn't provide the clueless with reasons for cutting, something that needs to be known to relate, understand, and prevent the cutting obsession. Also, it doesn't seem like much research was done before the writing of the book. The girl McCormick writes about contradicts many traits of the real-life mutilator. One of my long-time friends is in counseling for cutting. Everything she says, the reasons and the defense, is absolutely gut wrenching. Cut doesn't deal with any of these and not once did I get the same emotions as I did from my friend. Even without relating to real life, Cut's storyline is somewhat boring and lacking all creativity. I'm sure there's a better book out there about teen self-mutilation; so don't waste your time with this one.