This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her-who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves-Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. Isaak does not describe himself, though he does describe other characters' appearances, including skin color.Ī fascinating premise and plenty of action will attract fans who have patience for all the many extra threads.Īfter surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself. Isaak’s frequently overwrought first-person narrative is complemented by related stories that introduce other characters and lend history and context but detract from the pull of his story, making it difficult for readers to be fully involved in it and its themes of humanity, love, and connectedness. It turns out he’s a Robot, created, he is told, in a secret project to create a race of synthetic humans meant to be “soldiers, designed to spare human casualties in future wars.” As he and a band of allies in the Underground are pursued by Sheriffs intent on reclaiming them, Isaak realizes he has unusual powers that make him dangerous. Isaak has always felt disconnected and alone, and now he must begin a journey in search of himself. Continuing the narrative of a created boy is Isaak, adopted into a family in a tiny Ozarks town and now kicked out of the house by his adoptive mother, who sees him as a monster. “There once was a boy / Who was made, not created” begins the song on “8Bit Heart” (2010), Curtis’ first album. Reich adds, “Simon and Wolfy were instrumental in keeping me on track until the job was done, and I’m so excited for something I’ve been a part of to be out there in the world for people to hear and have an emotional reaction to.The first of a planned trilogy by recording artist Curtis, this debut novel continues themes from his early song of the same title. I was freaking out over a voice note, and desperately wanted to work with them on it.” I was a few hours away, and demanded they wait for me to work on it. “I got a voice note from Wolfy with a chorus she’d just written, and immediately called her and said it was perfect. “We initially wrote a rather different, rough version as a submission for another artist, but quickly realized it was ours and never pitched it,” says Curtis of the single. Wolfy has been friends with Curtis since she was 14 years old, and says that collaborating with the singer-songwriter, who released his most recent album “R?” in 2011, was a “wild and rewarding experience.” On “Fall Into Love,” the two voices complement each other instead of competing, as Reich’s production serves as an epic backdrop to their dramatic crooning. “I was hungry for making my own music again.” “After being signed as a songwriter to a publishing deal for six months, I really started feeling my creativity as an artist was being held back,” says Wolfy.
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