Gr 6-10-In this Australian import, a teen ponders the events that led to her current stay in a mental hospital. Laid out like long journal entries, the narrative shifts between descriptions of the slow-paced routine and assorted fellow patients in the psychiatric facility and the snowballing story of her father's involvement in a national scandal. The Warners, while well off, were never a happy family. The first real joy of the narrator's life came in the form of Checkers, a boisterous puppy that the girl's father brought home on the day he announced he had gotten a major casino contract. The contract was illegally obtained through some convoluted dealings with the Premier who publicly denied ever having met the business executive. After months of investigation, a reporter discovered, through information the narrator unwittingly supplied, that Checkers was actually a gift from the Premier. The father's guilt was confirmed, and he murdered the dog in a vengeful rage. The narrator holds herself personally responsible for the death of her pet, and apparently has had a breakdown. This book has several problems. The descriptions of the overall crisis, the father's business, and the government scandal are abstruse and often boring. The main character is not especially likable or well developed. How she actually ended up in the mental hospital is not fully explained, and why she has taken responsibility for Checkers's death is unclear. Also, the glossary of Australian terms is insufficient, rendering the book confusing for those who aren't familiar with the dialect.-July Siebecker, Hubbard Memorial Library, MA
"There are some things that once you've lost, you never get back. Innocence is one. Love is another. I guess childhood is a third. I've lost all of those, these last few months. I don't know how to replace them. I don't know if there is anything that can replace them."
The heroine of Checkers is a 15-year-old girl incarcerated in a mental institution. We don't know her name, nor do we immediately know why she has been institutionalized. What is made clear by her first-person narrative, however, is that she is an extremely intelligent, sensitive teenager who is not innately imbalanced, but who has been driven to her emotional undoing.
Hers was once an enviable world of money and privilege, gleaming with surface perfection. Her father, director of a large financial corporation, afforded his family the "right" house, two BMWs, designer clothes, and only the best of everything. Their lives were utterly controlled and polished, making the night her father brought home a non-pedigreed, rambunctious puppy all the more remarkable. It was the only time she could remember her father doing something "unpredictable and different." Making the puppy's arrival (whom she names Checkers because of his patchy coat) even more memorable, it coincides with her father's closing of an extremely lucrative, high-profile business deal.
Checkers unfolds slowly as the narrator shares alternately her current emotional struggles and her reflections on the events leading up to her incarceration. The other patients in her ward and therapy group are also young and not beyond hope: Among them are Daniel, an obsessive-compulsive; Esther, who believes a furry animal lives in her head; Emine, a who fears school; and Oliver, an anorectic. But although her peers discuss their problems and concerns freely in group sessions, she is unable to speak. However, her raw internal monologue details the unraveling of her once tautly constructed world.
When her father's business deal falls under investigation shortly after its completion, her world becomes murky. Reporters begin camping outside their home, her mother sleeps all day, and the kids at school behave strangely around her. Ultimately her father is implicated in an enormous insider-trading scandal that reaches to the highest level of the Australian government.
The only pure thing remaining in her life is Checkers, a dog who becomes not only a beloved pet but also a symbol of goodness in a world that lacks integrity at every turn. As the order and manicured beauty of her parents' world crumbles, the narrator marvels at the wonderfully simple attributes of her flawed canine: "But no, he was no genius, Checkers. What he had, and what I loved about him, was his happiness, his friendliness, his loyalty. He bounced through life, looking for another adventure, another game, another person to lick and fuss over. Those crazy black and white squares: you could see them a mile away, spreading chaos and confusion." She could never have anticipated that Checkers would also be the catalyst for the shocking climax of her father's professional scandal.
Often poignant and sometimes brutal, Checkers is unsparing in its exploration of adult corruption in the face of youthful hope and idealism. It is certain to leave an indelible impression on its readers.
Isabel Rifkin is a freelance writer living in New York City.
