Never Ending

Gr 9 Up—Shiv is embarking on a somewhat experimental therapeutic treatment to help her recover from the sudden death of her younger brother, Declan, during a family vacation in Greece. Shiv's story shifts back and forth in time so that readers are gradually informed about the tensions that emerged on that fateful vacation, the competition Shiv and Declan felt for the attentions of glamorous Nikos, their guide on a scuba diving expedition, and the lies Shiv told to maintain her relationship with Nikos while excluding Declan. No wonder she feels guilty. But she's not alone. Each of the young adults at the Korsakoff Clinic has suffered the traumatic loss of a loved one and each of them feels responsibility for the death. At first, the course of therapy seems relatively benign: walking, talking, and writing. The subsequent stages are much more brutal and are intended to break the patients psychologically in order to patch them together again. This is a dangerous process, and not all of the teens will be able to recover their equilibrium. Part-mystery, part-romance, and part-disturbing portrait of how fragile the human psyche can be, this novel is provocative and not for the faint of heart.—Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Library, NY