15-year-old Kenna has been detained in a psychiatric center for young people. She has been held under the Baker Act in Florida, because she was caught cutting herself at school.  She will be there for 72 hours while she is observed; then the doctors will decide whether to release her or hospitalize her. She reflects on what led to her getting there, and the other young people she meets during her time there. There’s a boy she likes and there’s a girl who seems friendly, but she isn’t sure what to think.  She is angry with her parents and with her friends. She isn’t sure why she cuts herself, and she says she can stop if she wants to. Kenna is anxious and smart, interested in the other people surrounding her.

The book is in verse, but as an unabridged audiobook, this aspect is mostly lost. It is short at 2 hours, and so it just gives a flavor of Kenna’s internal talk.  Since the she discusses how to cut in some detail, it is possible that it might trigger some people who are prone to cutting themselves.  But it might be meaningful to some who are looking to understand cutting a bit better.  The performance by Katie Schorr feels realistic — she manages to sound young and fragile, without overdoing it.

© 2014 Christian Perring

Christian Perring, Professor of Philosophy, Dowling College, New York