Cut

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Summary: Amber James-Bak Middle School of the Arts
Review: Callie is 15. She cuts herself. Enough said for the deadly quiet Callie, but apparently not for Patricia McCormick, who managed to create one of the most enticing novels with such a simple, yet sensitive, subject matter. Cut is such a powerful novel because everyone can connect with Callie, her powerlessness, her vulnerability. How she felt that first tingle across her scalp when she touched the EXACTO knife blade to her palm. We all struggle to find that sense of control and self-satisfaction that she gets from the slick, straight lines she carves into the skin on her palms. Most of us find fulfillment in other ways. Cut is just a novel of how some teens solve that equation of self-control and self-realization. Take some of the other patients at Sea Pines, a "residential treatment facility", for example. Some starve themselves, for eating is the only thing they can control, so they don't. For others, the high they get from smoking crack is their getaway. But for Callie, all it takes is one string of blood on her wrist, and for a brief moment, she's on top of the world. Only, she is on top of (or trapped in) her own, silent, dark world, for she doesn't talk to anybody. She doesn't want to associate with anyone else at all. But her silence can only last for so long.
Cut relates the difficulties of millions of today's youth with one girls story. Yes, Cut is a fictional novel, but it feels very real, very believable, once you start reading it. All the sudden, you are caught inside Callie's destructive world, with no way out but the source of her emotions and actions, the way she got into this line of destruction. This is what makes the novel so genuine. It's unbelievable what sentiment and struggle is woven in Cut's tapestry. I would recommend Cut to everyone, parents and teens especially. I think Cut would be an excellent way for some teenagers to grasp some of their own feelings, and parents to comprehend their children and their actions. Enjoy!

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Summary: An amazing first person view...
Review: Cut is an amazing book that shows what a cutter goes through. Patricia McCormick did a wonderful job with Cut and I hope she continues to capture the world with her new view of writing. Cut is a great novel.

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Summary: cut.. not as good as it should be
Review: I was very disapointed in this book. For a book with such a strong name, it was a big let down. I'm not saying it was a bad book, it kept my attention the whole way through, but I was REALLY disapointed.. I cant really explain it, but dont expect too much from it.

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Summary: Very good
Review: Callie doesn't talk to anybody, even if she tries and wants to. She knows all about the other people in herr group, yet they wouldn't reconize her voice if you spoke. The people at Sea Pines or as her roomate, Sydney, calls it, Sick Minds, might let her go becuase she made no progress at all.

And there you are, her saciatrist. Who sits in a room with her every day watching her count the stripes on the wallpaper.

The novel helps you understand what it's like to be in a fascility like her's and helps you understand the reasons of people's actions. It was a good book in my opioion and is recomened to all who plan to read it.

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Summary: Uninformative
Review: This was, I believe, the first book I ever read about self-mutilation. This was before I ever started the act. I thought that this is how it was, and that you didn't go through much, but that is not how it is at all. There are so many things rushing through your head and so many feelings. This doesn't happen with Callie. They never really even give a reason for Callie's cutting, so it just seems sort of wasted and purposless. I know you do not always have to have a reason, but there was more information about the other girls than the main character. I don't know anyone who could relate to this book, and if you are a self-mutilator, you want to read books that you can relate to and make you feellike you are not alone. I do not recommend this book to anyone. The author did a poor job with her "research" in this field.

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Summary: Hm
Review: Firstly,this book is well written.It's no boring,or anything like that.I was just very disappointed with the way in which the subject of cutting was dealt with.I found the reasons as to why Callie cut very predictable and cliche, reasons non cutters usually think drive people to self harm.I cut,and it wasn`t because something triggered it off.Also, the book didn`t really describe how Callie felt.I think this part of one of my favourite books,White Oleander,describes why people cut a lot better:

"In a perverse way,I was glad for the stitches, glad it would show, that there would be scars.What was the point in just being hurt on the inside? I thought of the girl with the scar tattoos at the Crenshaw group home.She was right,it bloody well should show"
So yeah.All in all,very disappointed with the book,the reasons why callie cut and the negative way in which cutting was shown.Not a very understanding book.From reading this book, I would say that I don`t think the author has ever cut before and if she has I would be very suprised because the book wasn`t very realistic and wasn`t told in the way I would expect someone who used to cut to write it.t seemed like it was written from someone who understood cutting,the...typical ways why people do it,but had never experienced it,or really understood it.

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Summary: EXCELLENT BOOK
Review: I think CUT was a great book!! I couldnt put it down, I read it in four days (that never happens).
I have friends who cut themselves and stumbled upon this book in my high school library.
Others who do not understand why we do this should read this book.
I could read this book a million + times and still love it!!

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Summary: Cut-A Story of Overcoming Self Mutilation
Review: This book is about a 15 year old girl, Callie who cuts herself. She is overwhelmed of fear that everything bad that has happened to her family was completely her fault. She cuts herself to feel better. She never cuts herself bad enough to die but enough to bleed. She winds up at Sea Pines "Sick Minds" mental hospital because a substitute nurse at her school finds the numerous scars on her arms from self mutilating herself. The girls in this hospital are dealing with many different mental problems, eating disorders, drug problems, and there is another cutter like Callie. At the hospital she finds herself mute to everyone, until she cuts herself so badly that she has to turn to someone. This time when she cuts herself she doesn't feel the euphoria that she felt every other time she has done it, she just feels pain. She finally confides in her theorpist. At the end of the book there is hope that Callie will overcome her self mutilation and her inner issues.

I thought that this was a great book, I found myself reading it straight through because I wanted to find out more about Callie and the others at the mental hospital. I recommend it for young adults no younger than probably 13 because of the intense and graphic details of Callie cutting herself. I wish that I would have read it when I was a teenager, it might of helped me get through some of my inner struggles and me being so hard on myself. I thought "Cut" really portrayed the feelings of this frightened and upset young woman. My heart really went out to Callie.

This book reminded me of the movie "Girl Interrupted." This was also about a girl, Winona Ryder, overcoming mental problems. I thought that "Cut" was everything the movie wasn't and more. "Cut" gave you a deeper look inside the young, slightly disturbed girl's mind than the movie did.

GREAT BOOK!!

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Summary: Good but triggering
Review: Well, this book was good, despite the lack of detail, but my major problem with it was that it is incredibly triggering. If you are a cutter or a recovering cutter, be very very careful and read this book in a safe place.
It is the story of 15-year old Callie, who is in a 'Residential Treatment Facility' called Sea Pines (but fondly dubbed Sick Minds by it's residents). Callie is a self-injurer (she's in good company; so am I) and is attempting to recover at the hospital. She is at first unresponsive to therapy, but the book chronicles how she opens up to her therapist and herself. As the story unfolds, we begin to understand the issues in her past that led her to cutting and how she oversomes them.
All in all, a good book, but don't forget that it's triggering!

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Summary: A Cut Above the Rest
Review: At first Cut, by Patricia McCormick, appears to be a story of self-destruction. The graphic scenes were almost too much for me to handle as an adult. I would be hesitant to give this book to a younger reader. A child reading the book without much knowledge and understanding of psychological disorders could prove to be difficult. This is true not only in comprehension, but in dealing with the emotions the story provokes as well. The explicit details of Callie's cutting set the tone for this story. There is a fear and hesitation that emerges before turning every page. However, on further exploration of this book, it is more than just a story of habitual cutting, it is one of tragedy, torment and triumph!

Although a younger reader may not have the capacity to handle a book with such content, a more mature reader could grasp and explore the complexity of Callie's story with greater insight. Reading this book with a parent would enhance the potential of this story's knowledge and understanding. It would be highly beneficial for a parent to read Cut first, and discern if their child is ready before handing it to them to discover on their own.

At the appropriate audience level, this novel has the ability to teach adults, as well as adolescents, the value and power of their own capabilities. Callie's strength and endurance are displayed over and over during her time at Sea Pines. Not only through her own activities, but also through her interactions with the girls, audiences come to understand the world Callie is living in.

For an adult, the events including Callie's parents also have a teaching capacity. By coming to grips with the immensity of such a situation, Callie's parents have the potential to show others the difference they can make, for better or worse. Through the silent, emotional scene with Callie's father, audiences learn that there is a strength within many children and adolescents that is often pushed to the wayside in today's society.

For any reader identifying with Callie, emotionally, physically or in reality, her story can bring strength to the distressed. By inviting audiences into Callie's thoughts, McCormick has a clever way of evoking emotion and understanding. Callie's personal struggles and triumphs, known only by the readers, structures and changes emotions normally associated with psychological disorders. Through her difficulties with life, emotions and events at Sea Pines, Callie encourages those identifying with her that life does go on and it is a personal strength and decision to make that commitment. Callie shows audiences through her touching and emotional story there is a way to overcome psychological difficulties.