Cut by Patricia McCormick

Callie is a cutter. We meet her in a mental facility where she is refusing to talk. She doesn't want to tell her therapist when she started, why she started, why she keeps cutting herself. It's a coping mechanism, even if it's not a very healthy one. At first, it was just because the blade was there. Opportunity, and that nasty idea in the back of her head. And the sensation that brought relief.

Her parents don't know what to do anymore. That's why she's at Sea Pines (or Sick Minds, as all the patients call it). She's in the girls ward with other people with "issues": anorexic, druggies, behavioral problems.

It's not until she relapses that she decides to start talking. She tells her therapist about her brother Sam, who is always sick. Everyone has to tiptoe around him, do the chores, keep the house extra clean. It becomes another way to control her out of control environment to cut. She's afraid of what will happen once she starts to talk...

Can Callie come around, and begin to heal? This is a very powerful look at what cutting can do to a person, a family, a life. It will appeal to older teens, and those who are struggling with similar issues.

"I hold my breath and push down on the piece of metal. It sinks in neatly.
A sudden liquid heat floods my body. The pain is so sharp, so sudden, I catch my breath. There's no rush, no relief. Just pain, a keen, pulsing pain. I drop the pie plate and grasp my wrist with my other hand, dimly aware even as I'm doing it that this is something I've never done before. Never tried to stop the blood. Never interfered. It's never hurt like this before. And it's never not worked...
And suddenly I'm up, out of bed, walking down the room. There's no thinking now, only walking. Down the hall, around the corner to Ruby's desk. Holding my arm out like an offering," (McCormick pg. 51, 2000).

*Library Link*

If you liked this, check out:
Sold by Patricia McCormick
You Don't Know Me by David Klass
Willow by Julia Hoban

McCormick, Patricia. (2000). Cut. New York, NY: PUSH/Scholastic, Inc.