Disconnected
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- ¥2,200
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- ¥2,200
発行者による作品情報
Seventeen-year-old Milly is continually bullied by Amelia Norris. Day in and day out, Amelia torments Milly and even threatens to hurt her, but Milly can't tell anyone—not a soul. Why? Because Amelia is Milly—they both co-exist as one in the same body.
Milly is so disconnected from her past that she feels compelled to find out what truly happened to her when her parents were still alive. After a mysterious fire, she and Grandpa George move into Aunt Rachel's Victorian home where Milly then begins to unravel puzzling clues to her family history. Through dreams and scattered memories, Milly journals her story, trying to cope by putting the shattered pieces back together, all the while resisting her inner demon.
But Amelia won't go down easily, and is determined to cut Milly out of the real world—literally. After Milly stumbles across Aunt Rachel's notebook, she begins to wonder who her real family is. Little by little, Milly assembles the pieces of her shattered past and begins to feel like everything she thought to be true is one big lie.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Drawing on her own struggles with mental illness, Cronkhite (Deep in the Meadows) crafts an unusual psychological thriller in which a young woman is terrorized and bullied by her own subconscious. "Amelia," as 17-year-old Milly Norris refers to her tormenter, taunts her with cryptic clues and comments regarding the parts of her past she can't remember. As Amelia belittles Milly, urging her to commit acts of self-destruction, Milly realizes that her family is as broken and dysfunctional as she is, and that her early childhood is wracked by tragedy. When Milly ends up in the hospital after cutting herself and losing consciousness, she finally receives the help she needs. However, further discoveries may destroy her attempts at internal peace. While Milly's conflicted relationship with her own mind is skillfully portrayed, the overall narrative is disjointed and unfocused; dramatic revelations come off as muted and distant. Even Milly's diagnosis carries little weight or impact, while another surprise regarding her family is bluntly revealed. Despite these shortcomings, Milly's story provides a strong look at how mental illness can manifest and affect lives. Ages 12 up.
