Patricia McCormick is a writer and teacher of creative writing. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children. Cut is her first novel.
“I read Cut in one breathless sitting, mesmerized by 15-year-old Callie whose silent struggle against self-destructive impulses captured my heart as well as my admiration. In her memorable debut novel, Patricia McCormick takes the reader on a journey through the geography of a teenager’s troubled mind. We watch as she summons the courage to face the inward forces that threaten her sanity and, perhaps, her very life. You will not soon forget a girl named Callie and this remarkable novel.”— Robert Cormier “First-timer McCormick tackles a side of mental illness that is rarely seen in young-adult literature in a believable and sensitive manner. … A thoughtful look at teenage mental illness and recovery.”— Kirkus
"I read Cut in one breathless sitting, mesmerized by 15-year-old Callie whose silent struggle against self-destructive impulses captured my heart as well as my admiration. In her memorable debut novel, Patricia McCormick takes the reader on a journey through the geography of a teenager's troubled mind. We watch as she summons the courage to face the inward forces that threaten her sanity and, perhaps, her very life. You will not soon forget a girl named Callie and this remarkable novel."- Robert Cormier
"First-timer McCormick tackles a side of mental illness that is rarely seen in young-adult literature in a believable and sensitive manner. ... A thoughtful look at teenage mental illness and recovery."- Kirkus
This first novel combines pathos with insight as it describes adolescent girls being hospitalized for a variety of psychiatric disorders: "The place is called a residential treatment facility. It is not called a loony bin," states Callie, the narrator, with characteristic grit. Callie does not speak aloud for most of the story, but directs her silent commentary chiefly to her therapist. Through this internalized dialogue, readers become aware of Callie's practice of cutting herself and, more gradually, how her cutting is a response to the dynamics of her damaged family. Similarly, the other girls' problemsDanorexia, overeating, substance abuseDcome to seem (both to themselves and to readers) like attempts to fight off parental or societal obliviousness to their needs: "It's like we're invisible," says a girl during a climactic scene. While running the risk of simplifying the healing process, this novel, like Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, sympathetically and authentically renders the difficulties of giving voice to a very real sense of harm and powerlessness. Refusing to sensationalize her subject matter, McCormick steers past the confines of the problem-novel genre with her persuasive view of the teenage experience. Ages 12-up. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
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