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Rebuilding takes character, strength, and determination. This month
The Edge of the Forest reviews books featuring protagonists who must
rebuild after a disaster hits their lives. Whether the catastrophe
is a family crisis (Out of Focus) or one that rocks an entire community (The Unresolved), a teen must use
all they have to triumph over adversity.
Out of Focus
by Margaret Buffie
Reviewed by a.fortis (Sarah Stevenson), ReadingYA: Readers' Rants
There don't seem to be a great many Canadian authors prominent in the U.S. YA market, but Margaret Buffie is definitely a
name I've heard before. Her ninth book for young adults, Out of Focus, has a dramatic storyline worthy of a
problem novel, but the intriguing and varied cast of characters is well-realized, creating a story that's much less easily
classified into a single genre.
Sixteen-year-old Bernie Dodd is wise beyond her years. "When you stop being a drunk," she tells her mother, "I'll call you
Mom" (29). Celia's alcoholism and irresponsible behavior are tearing the family apart—little sister Jojo is overeating,
younger brother Ally is on the verge of becoming obsessive-compulsive, and Bernie increasingly finds herself in charge of
her siblings while her mother agonizes in bed with a hangover or disappears for days at a time. Sometimes Bernie feels like
the only thing holding her together is her love of photography. It seems like things are only going to get worse, not
better, when Celia skips out on her own wedding to a halfway decent guy.
Until, that is, Bernie runs across her great-aunt's will in a box of household papers. Celia has inherited an old
bed-and-breakfast four hours into the wilderness, called Black Spruce Lodge. Maybe—just maybe—if Bernie can get
them all out of Winnipeg and get her mother away from the tempting influences of alcohol and clubbing, she can bring their
family back together again.
Most of the action takes place at the lakeside lodge, which Celia insists they're only going to inhabit long enough to fix
it up. But Bernie finds a darkroom full of enigmatic photos by her great-aunt, and her brother and sister seem happier and
more relaxed than they've been in ages. They start to settle in at the lodge, meeting their neighbors: a handsome young
author named Tony, whom Bernie rapidly develops a crush on; and the Broom family—widower John, his mother Ruby, and
his teenage son Jack. Can Bernie let go of her anger at her mother, and her sense of responsibility to her siblings, enough
to let herself get close to new friends? Or will she always feel this mistrustful, this out of focus?
Living a secluded life in a peaceful setting, Bernie very slowly learns to relax and let go of some of her anger and
mistrust. She learns some startling things about her family in the process, including the mysterious great-aunt who left
them the lodge. But for the healing process to be complete, she has to learn to forgive her mother and herself. Subplots of
potential romance and friendship complicate things even further, but the story ends on a note of real hope, like the sun
coming out after a storm.
Unfortunately, I'd absorbed all of Bernie's mistrust and wasn't entirely ready to forgive and let things go so easily; as a
narrator, she has a very strong voice and a very particular viewpoint. This is definitely one of the book's strengths,
though. I was really drawn in by Bernie's character and cheered for her every time she wouldn't take her mother's excuses;
every time she comforted her younger brother; every time she persevered and took more photographs despite everything else
going on in her life. The transformative power of art is a very strong and worthwhile theme—it offers the hope that life
can be brought back into focus despite all the odds.
The Unresolved
by T.K. Welsh
Reviewed by Kelly Herold, Big A little a
The Unresolved, by T.K. Welsh, is one part historical novel, one part ghost story, and one part gorgeous, dark,
evocative prose. It may be the most beautifully written novel I've read this year.
A disaster is a the center of The Unresolved. On June 15, 1904, St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church, located
in Kleindeutschland (Little Germany), Manhattan, chartered the General Slocum for a cruise around New York City.
The passengers dressed up and there was dancing and other festivities aboard the ship. Then a fire broke out and and
approximately 1,000 passengers died (of 1,300 on board). The lifeboats were rusted to the ship and the lifejackets
crumbled to dust or, simply, failed to float. You can read more about the General Slocum catastrophe—the worst in New York's
history until 9/11—here.
Mallory Meer died on the General Slocum just after receiving her first kiss from the gorgeous Dustin Brauer. She
was on the General Slocum with her mother, sister Louisa, brother Helmuth, and infant sister, Nixie. Nixie died as
well. Mallory's family was not unique: everyone in Kleindeutschland lost someone in the fire. But, Mallory, unlike
the rest of the burnt and drowned passengers, does not go away. She remains behind to watch what happens after the disaster
and, indeed, to effect the inquest to follow.
Mallory's Dustin takes the hit for the fire, as a group of Kleindeutschland boys accuse him of smoking a cigarette
after the kiss and flinging it into a pile of straw. There's a sinister element to this accusation: Dustin is Jewish
and the other boys German. Mallory, as a ghost who can inhabit anybody and see events and feelings from their point of
view, aches for her Dustin and seeks her revenge.
When Kleindeutschland calls for an inquest, it appears as if Dustin will be found guilty. Mallory watches most of the
inquest through her sister Louisa's eyes, feeling her pain as she too loves Dustin and she too has lost beloved family
members. Dustin goes into hiding as his life is in danger in the community. Mallory learns how to haunt those most
responsibe—the shipping company, members of government inspection committees, and the boy who knows who really
threw a cigarette into the straw. Her persistence saves Dustin and, to some extent, the community. While it is true
Kleindeutschland does not survive the General Slocum disaster, at least it dissolves rather than exploding from
within.
Dustin and Mallory's family survive and move from New York City. But not so, Mallory. Mallory travels:
The spirit does not grow decrepit. There are not bones to age. But thoughts grow old and feeble
The wear away like Nixie's christening gown. How could they not? Once thought, perceived, ideas
and feelings do not vanish. But they fade. Even mine. They crack and crumble over time. They
grind. LIke stones in the streambed of memory.
I am tired now. From time to time, I visit what was once my body. There is so little left.
I have become a box of bones. From time to time, I visit Dustin and Louisa; I visit Mallory, my
niece. But I grow bored of simply being a witness, an insubstantial spy. And there are times I
see things I shouldn't see.
Mallory remains behind to do one more thing. I won't tell you what that is—you'll have to read The Unresolved
to find out. I promise you won't be disappointed.
Out of Focus, by Margaret Buffie. Kids Can Press, 2006. ISBN: 1-5533-7955-1.
The Unresolved, by T.K.Welsh. Dutton Juvenile, 2006, ISBN: 0-5254-7731-4.
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