The voices in Ry Burke’s head have been quiet for nearly nine years following the trauma he suffered in the Black Glade forest which grows beside his family’s farm. During this time, he and his family has been able to return to a resemblance of normalcy, escaping Marvin Burke, the abusive father Ry helped to put in prison. But, with the oncoming of a meteor shower, Ry hears the voices of his “friends” rising to the surface again just as his family is informed of an explosion at the nearby prison. As the meteors begin to fall and the threat of Marvin’s return looms, the family decides to leave the farm, putting their wretched past behind them. But one voice in particular is whispering to Ry from the depths of his subconscious. A small doll which once helped him confront his father so long ago is now calling to Ry, its foreboding voice like dark wings on the horizon. When the meteors hit and the infamous fiend from their past returns, Ry’s mother, Jo Beth, and sister, Sarah, depend on him for help and salvation. They hope that he will be the man they believe he’s grown into, after years of pushing his other personalities and experiences aside. When his family needs him the most, will he stand up to his father as he once did and protect his family from calamity or will they look to Ry for rescue and find only Scowler instead.
In his second novel, Daniel Kraus delves into the psychology behind abuse and how it can affect the adolescent mind. Ry Burke is tormented by what he did and didn’t do. He stood up to his father to prevent the abuse of his mother, but in many ways, he fears repeating the cycle. He is afraid of becoming a monster just like his father was. Kraus jumps into this topic by creating situation in which the monsters inside both Ry and his father manifest as toys; proxies which they use to distance themselves from their actions. In a fearfully logical way, Kraus presents the reader with a distressingly real portrait of Ry Burke’s mind following his childhood trauma. He shows the reader how Ry creates versions of himself to handle his pain and suffering and preserve the different facets of his personality and childhood. The problem arises when Ry cordons off the parts of himself which deal with his violent past and the part of himself which is still attached to his father; a companion which, though once a toy, has grown into a hungry beast. Ultimately, Kraus attempts to use the events in the main narrative of the novel to deal with these repressed aspects, confronting and resolving Ry’s issues rather than hiding from them.
While I would say that this is a brilliantly complex novel, parents must take a note of caution. This novel deals with intense and disturbing issues in a very visceral fashion. The novelist does not flinch in reproducing the gritty details which are part of both Ry and Marvin’s dysfunction. This can be unsettling to the reader and, although it is a work of young adult fiction, it should be put in the older range of young adults. I like to think of it as the difference between PG-13 and R ratings for movies. PG-13 movies are usually fine for most kids, although they can sometimes be dark or scary. R rated movies admit 17 year-olds and up because they are a bit more graphic and should be reviewed by the parents before allowing their children to view them. With this addendum, I would definitely recommend picking up Scowler and trying it for yourself!
- Posted by Edward Chaney