The Pain Eater

Starred review from January 1, 2017
A thoughtful and sensitive handling of a difficult topic.Six months before starting grade 10, Maddy Malone (a white Canadian 14-year-old) is attacked by a group of boys and raped. Following the ordeal, Maddy has become a shell of herself, trying to avoid her attackers, who thus far have not said anything. Everything changes when Maddy shares an English class with two of her attackers. The uneasy silence they've all worked to maintain begins to crumble when the class collectively begins to write The Pain Eater, a fantasy novel about Farang, a 15-year-old girl who at birth was chosen to bear the pain of her fellow villagers. As the students manipulate the story in turn to fit their own ideas and agendas, Maddy begins to see parallels between herself and Farang--and it's not long before her classmates also begin to catch on. When Maddy's secret begins to unravel and her attackers threaten her to keep quiet, she must decide whether to fight or stand down. The novel never hits readers over the head with its message, but it is not an easy read. At times heartbreaking, it honestly addresses Maddy's full range of emotions associated with the rape, from pain to crippling fear and sometimes anger. Through the device of the collectively written story and the teen characters' responses to it, Goobie sensitively and artfully tackles the problematic way rape is perceived in society. Powerfully written, this is not just a story about trauma, but also one of healing. (Fiction. 13-18)

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February 1, 2017

Gr 10 Up-Maddy Malone has a secret that is destroying her. Raped by a gang of boys in the spring of her freshman year, she lives with daily shame as she begins 10th grade. Suffering silently, she often retreats into the privacy of her backyard tree house. When one of her attackers shows up in her English class, Maddy's anxiety heightens, and she resorts to discreetly piercing her hand with her fingernails and burning her thighs with lit cigarettes. During a class collective novel-writing assignment, her fellow students compose a story that eerily parallels Maddy's own world. After finally building up the courage to reveal her trauma to friends, she starts to heal, gaining confidence and insight. While creating her chapter for the class novel, Maddy must decide how far she is willing to go and how she can use the power of fiction to challenge the status quo. Although disturbing images are evoked throughout the narrative, Goobie approaches the topic of rape with sensitivity and care. Her depiction of peer pressure, teenage angst, and bullying brings to light serious issues that fuel high school students' choices. Though the characterization sometimes falls flat and relationships within the book are not fully developed, Goobie's writing is nevertheless absorbing. Surfacing an important problem that is too often overlooked, the author succeeds in making readers think deeply about the implications of malicious teenage actions and the suffering of victims.

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2017
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* In March, 14-year-old Maddy was jumped by five guys. One of the guys held Maddy down while three of them raped her. A fifth boy stood watch. Although they were wearing masks, Maddy could identify some of their voices. Maddy tells no one of the assault, hoping it will just fade away. But when one of the boys turns up in her English class the following September, Maddy's reaction is one of pure terror. In class, the students are assigned a collective writing project. One student begins writing a story, and each student writes a subsequent chapter. This story is about Farang, an unfortunate girl designated by her tribe as the pain eater. Farang's plight eerily mirrors Maddy's, as each girl seems fated to silently bear pain inflicted by others. Goobie beautifully orchestrates the evolution of Farang's fictional tale with Maddy's uneven healing process; as the class debates Farang's culpability in her own abuse, for instance, Maddy's rapists spread rumors that Maddy was asking for it. The student-written chapters flesh out the emotional reactions of the entire class, unveiling a handful of strong individuals who are unmoved by groupthink. Readers may note the parallels between Maddy's story and Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak (1999). These excellent novels complement each other, as each realistically portrays the extended repercussions of sexual assault, as well as the healing power of art.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)