Scowler by Daniel Kraus

1. Summary: Ry has lead very little resemblance to a normal childhood on his family farm. Instead of joy, his days were filled with abuse and mental torment by their father, Marvin Burke, as they worked side-by-side tending farm duties. One day, after Jo Beth, Ry’s mother, was caught again taking on sewing jobs for pay, Marvin decided to enact ultimate revenge: he sewed Jo Beth’s body to the bed, inch by inch. Ry knew something was wrong, and upon breaking into her room, slowly and precisely cut her free, both literally and figuratively. Ry was able to escape his father and save his mother and baby sister, Sarah, by relying on the Unnamed Three, toys that seemed to come to life and motivate him for both good and evil. Marvin goes to prison, but escapes when a meteor shower blows open a prison wall. He returns to his farm and tortures his family for days as he tries to carry a meteorite out of his farm land. The Unnamed Three come back to life to help Ry save himself and his family.
2. Textbook: At first, this seemed like a realistic horror book. Small town, farming family who deals with a dad who gets off on torturing his wife daily. But with the emergence of the Unnamed Three, toys of Ry’s that come to life, speak to him, and help him overcome horrible circumstances. In addition to this very unrealistic occurrence, later we find out that Marvin has his own toy, Scalper Jim, came to life for him and fueled his gruesome crimes. Although this story walks the line of fantasy, once the reader recognizes that the toys coming to life is more like multiple personality disorder, the reader becomes connected to these suffering people, especially Ry, and sees a family in distress. The jumping back and forth of points of view reiterates this division of people and minds, elevating the chaos of their situation. Mental illness plagues this novel, but it isn’t appropriately addressed. Yes, Ry receives some help when dealing with the Unnamed Three; but not because he has a disorder, but more because his mother doesn’t know how to handle him. We also find out in the end that she didn’t burn them out of her own need to feel stronger than Ry’s psychologist.

 Kraus, D. (2013). Scowler. New York: Delacorte Press. 

Scowler Book Trailer