Like a diluted version of The Chocolate War, this British novel concerns a freshman boy singled out by a secret society of upperclassmen who reign over the students at Holminster High. Elliot arrives at the school with numerous strikes against him: his father is clinically depressed, his mother works at two menial jobs to keep them in their ramshackle apartment, his uniform is second-hand, and Elliot himself is trying to work his way out of his role as perpetual victim at his previous school. To his surprise, the elite group, the Guardians, express an interest in him, not to dunk his head in a toilet but rather to recruit him as one of their successors. The book moves along too predictable an arc, fueled by cardboard characterizations. Tutored by the Guardians, who are obsessed with George Orwell's 1984 and the fantasies of power it has inspired in them, Elliot comes to power, but simultaneously (and secretly) befriends one of the Guardians' most prominent victims, remembering what it was like to be on the receiving end of cruelty. The clearly foreseeable act of redemption at the end undermines the story's credibility. Ages 12-up. (Mar.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Inventing Elliot
Narrated by Dominic Taylor
Graham GardnerUnabridged — 4 hours, 46 minutes
Inventing Elliot
Narrated by Dominic Taylor
Graham GardnerUnabridged — 4 hours, 46 minutes
Audiobook (Digital)
Free with a B&N Audiobooks Subscription | Cancel Anytime
Already Subscribed?
Sign in to Your BN.com Account
Related collections and offers
FREE
with a B&N Audiobooks Subscription
Overview
Elliot is noticed by the Guardians, the mysterious, manipulative group who run the school according to their own very special rules. They want him to become one of them. For the first time, Elliot has power. But power comes at a terrible price, and Elliot faces an impossible choice when he has to decide how to use it.
Editorial Reviews
Gr 7-9-Teased by bullies in his old school, Elliot is determined to reinvent himself at his new high school by donning a cool, unflappable exterior. Ironically, the 14-year-old's aloofness earns the interest of an elite group of bullies, known as the Guardians, whose members target school losers for punishment in cruel and ritualistic ways. In this psychological drama, the outwardly congenial Guardian leaders, who are never seen "in the company of actual violence," recruit Elliot using control tactics adopted from their favorite book, George Orwell's 1984. With no way out, he passes the initiation test that requires him to choose a punisher and a victim. Elliot's outward voice alternates with an inner voice written in italics, depicting a battle of sensibilities. Two valuable but tentative friendships disintegrate as Elliot becomes more Guardianlike, and the struggles with his conscience intensify. In an emotion-packed ending, the teen realizes that the strength he had in choosing not to be a victim is the same strength he needs to uncloak the Guardians. Elliot is an appealing protagonist, and his need to fit in will strike a chord with most readers.-Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Gardner serves up a suspenseful tale of a bullying victim who manages a transformation, not into safety, but into the kingdom of the bullies. At his last school Elliot was continuously threatened and beaten, and headed now into a new school, decides to do whatever he can to escape. His fear is palpable from the initial scene where he's beaten up and continues as he watches fellow victims in the new school succumb to the dominant group, the Guardians, as well as to other bullies-teachers and students. At home, Elliot's father is locked into an incapacitating depression, and his mother struggles with two menial jobs to support them. At school, Elliot's fear guides him throughout each day, until he makes all the correct moves to be invited to join the organized and hidden power mongers called the Guardians. Elliot's character changes as the story develops, giving readers the needed clues, amid nail-biting suspense, to the culminating event in the final chapter. References throughout to Orwell's 1984 add depth and keep readers thinking of the principles at stake when those with power abuse it. (Fiction. YA)
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940169119145 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Penguin Random House |
| Publication date: | 03/23/2004 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
Read an Excerpt
Elliot would have loved to run laps. Exercise he didn't mind. It was playing the game that he hated. Having the same 140-pound monster tackle you and fall on you six times during one game, quite obviously doing it deliberately, and the gym teacher watching and doing nothing, almost certainly secretly enjoying it. Getting yelled at for fumbling a catch, when the ball was impossible to hold: cold and greasy with thick, wet winter mud.
Oliver had gone out without so much as a word to Elliot. Elliot trotted into the cold sunlight, his chest tight, his heart already thumping uncomfortably. This was where all the acting skill he could muster could let him down in an instant.
But in the end, surprisingly, it wasn't too bad. He ran around enough to convince both Mr. Phillips and the other players that he was a decent enough player and eager to get the ball -- even though he was tackled three seconds after he caught it for the first and last time.
Someone else wasn't so lucky: a gangly kid with angry red spots on his forehead and a raw-looking nose. Every other pass seemed to be directed at him. If he caught the ball, he was instantly tackled, crushed into the ground again and again, until even his face was brown. A couple of times Elliot saw a sly hand press his head down into the mud. When he didn't catch the ball -- which was usually -- he got the resentful stares of the rest of his team.
When they eventually walked off the field, Elliot's team had lost 28-14. He noticed the raw-nosed boy lagging behind.
In the locker room, Elliot quickly peeled off his muddy uniform and dived for the showers. He wanted to be in and out as quickly as possible. The more serious players on his team looked angry at their defeat, and he had no wish to be a potential target for their frustration.
He let the hot water power the dirt and sweat away. "Good game," said someone next to him. He vaguely recognized him from the morning's English class.
"Yeah." Elliot injected false enthusiasm into his voice.
Suddenly the end of the showers was blocked. He recognized his team captain, Stewart Masters, a big, burly center-forward who played aggressively, knocking challengers aside with casual flicks of his arm. He was still wearing his gym uniform, and glaring.
Please don't look at me, Elliot prayed. He tilted his head back to let the water flood onto his face, trying to look unconcerned. His skin felt cold, although the water was uncomfortably hot, filling the narrow space with clouds of steam.
When he next looked, Stewart had gone.
Thank you, God. Elliot stepped out into the main changing area and began toweling himself off.
"Here he is. I've got the little wimp."
The locker room went silent.
Elliot froze. But the attention wasn't directed at him. In the far corner of the room, Stewart Masters had ahold of the raw-nosed kid, his hand twisted in the boy's hair.
Everyone else in the room was still as a statue. The air was still with expectation, a stillness that somehow emptied it of smell -- of bodies, sweat, damp uniforms, of sound -- of the showers, breathing, of anything that might distract attention from whatever was about to happen.
Stewart spoke quietly into the stillness. "Baker, you're a snot rag. What are you?"
"A snot rag." The voice was flat and dead.
"Louder, Baker. I want the whole locker room to hear you."
"I'm a snot rag."
"And you stink, don't you, because you never take a bath. Don't you?"
"I -- I stink because I never take a bath."
"You're disgusting, Baker. I'm polluting myself by touching you."
"I'm disgusting."
"Did I ask you to speak, you little maggot? You filth stain. Did I?"
Stewart let go of the boy's hair. The tension in the room remained. Everyone knew there was more to come. Elliot held his towel, covering himself; the air suddenly felt cold; there were goose bumps all over him.
Stewart continued. "You're filthy, Baker. Get your clothes off and take a shower."
Slowly the boy undressed, carefully placing his clothes on the wooden bench behind him. His skin had an unhealthy, off-white appearance. He looked like a ghost, or a dead body animated by some supernatural force. Naked, he walked the length of the locker room and went into the showers.
Everything else was still.
Stewart scanned the room. "I want a volunteer. Quickly, before Phillips gets here." He pointed to Oliver. "You. You're volunteering to man the showers."
Clearly knowing what was expected, Oliver walked over to the tangle of pipes and wheels on the wall that controlled the flow and temperature of the water to the showers. He reached up and rapidly twisted one of the wheels clockwise.
"A nice cold shower, Baker, to clean the filth off you," Stewart said. He pointed to another two boys. "You and you -- clothing duty, now."
They too knew the drill: Baker's uniform followed him into the shower.
Elliot wondered how many times this had happened before -- to Baker or to anyone else. Something about the whole thing gave the impression of a routine perfected from long practice.
"What the hell's going on?"
In an instant the group unfroze into furious activity.
The gym teacher came into the locker room and went straight to the showers.
Elliot raced to pull on his boxer shorts and pants, his heart thudding.
What are you so concerned about? a little voice hissed in his head. You didn't do anything.
The gym teacher twisted one of the wheels on the wall, and the noise from the showers stopped.
"Come out of there."
Baker stepped into the locker room, his hands covering between his legs, his thin white frame shivering.
"Why aren't you getting dressed, Baker?" There was impatience in his voice.
The boy awkwardly half-turned back toward the showers.
"For crying out loud!" Mr. Phillips's gaze swept over the room. Elliot saw Stewart staring back: brazen, challenging. He remembered noticing Stewart's name in gold leaf on the football roll-of-honor board. He sensed the gym teacher weighing his options.
The teacher turned back to Baker. "Just get your clothes and get dressed. And hurry up." He turned to the others. "And the rest of you. You've got three minutes, or you'll all be taking cold showers."
Elliot finished putting on his tie, threw on his blazer, and got out before anyone could have a chance to speak to him.
Don't be noticed. But he knew it was only going to be a matter of time before he was. And then he'd be joining Baker underneath those showers. Nothing's going to be different here. Nothing.
I was stupid to imagine anything else.
Videos
