The Freak Observer

The Freak Observer
by Blythe Woolston
Carolrhoda Books, 2010. 208 pgs
Young Adult Fiction
Hardcover: $16.95

Annotation: Loa has not one, but two deaths to contend with and the nightmares and anxiety just keep getting worse.

Summary: Loa is attacked by her toilet plunger wielding father, not because she did anything wrong, but simply because she didn't die. Sometimes fright will do that to a person and he's already lost one daughter. But it wasn't Loa who died that night, it was Edith and now Loa must figure out how to survive the horror of her sister's death and her friend's. She's not doing particularly well though, with horrible nightmares of The Bony Guy, anxiety attacks and the inability to concentrate all contibuting to her dropping grades. Even her best friend Corey has betrayed her by going to Europe to a new school, sending her cruel postcards in the mail and posting shocking internet photos of her in compromising positions. On top of that, when her dad loses his job, she must help support her family doing dishes at the Piney Woods care center. And through it all she has that make-up essay to write for science class about the Freak Observer. Feeling like a freak herself, she's doing all she can to keep it together without going crazy. But it's more difficult than  she imagined and until "the nice boy" shows up, she's not doing a very good job.

Evaluation: Set in a logging community in a small Montana town, Woolston writes about the grieving process as experienced by one very unfortunate girl. Told in a mixture of both present day and numerous flashbacks, the story reveals the crippling nightmares Loa endures as her mind tries to come to terms with Asta and Edith's deaths. The book is particularly realistic in it's treatment of grief, anxiety and the separation from reality that trauma brings. Each chapter begins with a black page on which a science experiment is written, symbolizing several things. One being that Loa herself is attempting to understand her world in terms of a scientific equation; two, that she herself feels like a science experiment; and three, that science is a field where answers should be as easy to determine as a well-wrought equation but, real life often doesn't work that way.

I particularly liked this recipe for grief as given by Loa.

1) Heat the oven to Denial
2) Prepare the pan with a spray of Anger
3) Mix in two medium-size Bargain with The Bony Guy
4) Add 1/3 cup of Depression (tears will do if you want low fat)
5) Bake for 35 minutes, or until you can jab a toothpick in your arm and it seems Acceptable.

I thought Woolston was overly fond of the "f" word, but concede that it's probalby realistic of teens with an anger issue. The backstory of Asta's death and Corey's betrayal was well done and added layers of sorrow and confusion to an already desparing teen. The use of postcards was a particularly clever idea and demonstrated Loa's inability to see beyond her depression. When Loa ultimately realizes she had been connecting dots that weren't there, we see her brain beginning to heal. Loa's research on the freak observers is a nice literary device and mirrors her own disassociation from her world, just as the scientific theory of this discombobulated brain does.

With teen drinking, harsh language, nonchalant teen sex, PTSD and parental abuse the book is dark and inappropriate for all but the most mature teen readers. I feel hard-pressed to recommend it to anyone unless they've experienced death themselves. All said, the book is treats a dark, heavy topic with literary aplomb and even though it's "enormously sad" as Kathe Koja relays, it's an important addition to the body of literature treating the wretched reality of death.

Significance: While there are many teens who make it through adolescence without having to experience the horrors of a sibling or a friend dying, there are the unfortunate number who do not. This book addresses a difficult, important subject and follows a teen as she battles through the grieving process. Eventually, she will learn how to see the world clearly again and rid herself of her debilitating nightmares.

Personal Choice: Being acquainted with death, grief myself, I wanted to see how Woolston would treat the subject. The book wasn't my favorite, but probably realistic as far as the nightmares and PTSD are concerned.

Awards: Morris Winner, 2011