Review: Cut by Patricia McCormick

Title: Cut
Author: Patricia McCormick
Rating: ★★★ (3/5 Stars)
Hardcover, 151 pages
Published February 2002

"'A tingle arced across my scalp. The floor tipped up at me and my body spiraled away. Then I was on the ceiling looking down, waiting to see what would happen next.' Callie cuts herself. Never too deep, never enough to die. But enough to feel the pain. Enough to feel the scream inside. Now she's at Sea Pines, a 'residential treatment facility' filled with girls struggling with problems of their own. Callie doesn't want to have anything to do with them. She doesn't want to have anything to do with anyone. She won't even speak. But Callie can only stay silent for so long..."

I thought this was a good book, and there wasn't really much to dislike, but...the ending. The ending is what I had a bit of a problem with. It felt pretty inconclusive. It was hard to find the plot. However, don't worry. I'll get to that part in a second.

As for the beginning of the story, it didn't really seem like anything that special to me. I've read a couple of books where the main character is sent to a mental facility to "get better," and the only part that seemed different about this story is that the character wasn't putting up a fight the entire time...unless you count the silent treatment as putting up a fight.

Callie's silence was pretty intriguing, especially since there were a couple of points in the story where she so desperately wanted to open her mouth and let the words out--sometimes, she forced herself not to. Other times, she didn't even remember how to speak.

Based on this, you'd expect that when Callie finally starts talking, it'd be this grand thing, right? A big revelation. A huge turning point in the story. Well, I'd thought so too, and I was wrong. Callie starts speaking, and everyone acts like not a single thing has changed. I was like, "??????????????"

Alright, now the ending. The ending was just so...I don't even have words for it. I was genuinely shocked that my novel had run out of pages. All I kept thinking was, That was it? That's the end of this novel that gets four-and-five-star reviews and has been raved about by practically every important author/reader in the world?

Don't worry, I won't spoil the ending for you. I'm not that mean. But if/when you read the book, just think for a second. The ending was so bland. So inconclusive. I have so many questions! Here are a few questions that were on my mind when I finished the book. If you haven't read it/finished it yet, skip the bullets!

• What the heck happens with Callie? Does she get better? Worse? An excerpt or an epilogue would have been nice!
• What exactly is Amanda's story? McCormick is very vague about her. I think that she's supposed to be painted to be an important character, but I don't really know.
• Is this whole book a letter to Callie's therapist? Or was I supposed to be the therapist? Literally made no sense to me.
• Does Callie's family patch up their problems? I don't know about you, but I kind of wanted to know that part.
• Does Callie get in ANY kind of trouble for running away (even if it was only for a few hours)? Come on, I wanna know!

I have a feeling that whoever is reading this review probably thinks it's another bashing one. THAT ISN'T THE CASE AT ALL! I was very interested in this book, although I will admit that there were some aspects which I didn't like.

If any of you have any answers for my unanswered questions of Cut, have questions of your own, or would like to tell me what YOU thought, feel free to drop a comment in the box down below!