I just finished reading A Door Near Here by Heather Quarles. The novel won the Delacorte Press Prize, a prize given to the best first novel for young adults by an author. In fact, the book was Quarles's Master's thesis for graduate school--a pretty great read for a Master's thesis.
I fondly remember being a teen and enthusiastically anticipating every weekend my parents left my brother and me alone at home. It was glorious. An entire weekend to do whatever we wanted, as loud and as late as we wanted, with no one to demand quiet. We loved every minute of it. While this set up is fairly great for two days, being left alone for months is not. This is exactly what the Donovan children face when their mother loses her job and retreats to her bedroom, only to emerge to go to the store for more alcohol. All of the sudden, 15-year-old Katherine is running a household and, along with 14-year-old Douglas and 13-year-old Tracy, trying to keep life normal for their 8-year-old sister Alisa. However, as food runs out, laundry piles up, and bills go unpaid, things seem to be slipping out of Katherine's control. On top of everything else, Alisa, a big fan of C.S. Lewis, begins to obsess over finding the door to Narnia so that Aslan can cure her mother. Terrified that to alert any adult to their situation would result is Child Services contacting their distant father and sending Alisa, who has different father, to a foster home, the three struggle to keep up appearances as things begin to unravel. As the situation declines, a kindly religion teacher tries to help, but Katherine is determined to keep him away. In a moment of desperation, she makes a decision that could cost the man his career only to realize that she desperately needs his help.
A Door Near Here is a poignant reflection on the damage that alcoholism inflicts on children of alcoholics left to fend pretty much for themselves. However, it also deals with spiritual struggle. Katherine, like many teens and adults, does not believe in God. When Alisa tells Katherine that Aslan is the "king of the animals and children in all the worlds...like God." Katherine thinks, "Hopefully more reliable than God." She is disillusioned by God, a legitimate sentiment for someone whose life is falling apart despite her best attempts to keep her family functioning. When she meets Mr. Dodson, the new religion teacher, she describes him as a religious fanatic due to his belief in God, which he associates with Alisa's belief in Aslan. In the heat of their discussion, in which Mr. Dodson shared his childhood nightmare of having an alcoholic father who beat his mother, Katherine exclaims "But you say that you believe in God? How did God let that happen? If there is a God, how come he didn't fix your family? How come he didn't save your mother from your father?" Mr. Dodson falteringly responds that God gave us free will, and that it is not that God leaves us alone, God just doesn't fix everything. Katherine, however, refuses to relent, ending the conversation by stating that "It doesn't help to believe in God. We have to help ourselves." This is a common sentiment, one which most every individual raised in a faith tradition asks at one point or another. The problem of evil and suffering in our world is an immense stumbling block to any belief in a benevolent deity. One need only look at the headlines of a newspaper to see that the amount, intensity, and duration of suffering in our world is horrendous. Where is God in ethic strife or sever malnourishment or the homeless man on the corner of Grand and highway 40? This "spiritual crisis" or disillusionment, or even just an overwhelming realization of suffering, is a common human experience that is often neglected in young adult literature. In fact, this is the first YA novel that I have read where the theme even surfaces. Yet, often the high school years are the time for such questioning and criticizing of accepted beliefs. That this novel addresses the topic at all is refreshing and, quite frankly, authentic. Despite the increased secularization of the world, we still live in a primarily religious society where the majority of people affiliate with some group or another, or if not, remain influenced by the religions surrounding them. It is a topic that deserves more space.
This novel engaged these issues without focusing on them as the central plot so don't get turned off by my preaching. Really, the spiritual crisis is ancillary to the bigger issue of trying to survive on one's own with no money and no parents. It is, as School Library Journal writes, "heartbreaking and beautifully written." I read it in one sitting because I had to know what happened.
A Door Near Here is a poignant reflection on the damage that alcoholism inflicts on children of alcoholics left to fend pretty much for themselves. However, it also deals with spiritual struggle. Katherine, like many teens and adults, does not believe in God. When Alisa tells Katherine that Aslan is the "king of the animals and children in all the worlds...like God." Katherine thinks, "Hopefully more reliable than God." She is disillusioned by God, a legitimate sentiment for someone whose life is falling apart despite her best attempts to keep her family functioning. When she meets Mr. Dodson, the new religion teacher, she describes him as a religious fanatic due to his belief in God, which he associates with Alisa's belief in Aslan. In the heat of their discussion, in which Mr. Dodson shared his childhood nightmare of having an alcoholic father who beat his mother, Katherine exclaims "But you say that you believe in God? How did God let that happen? If there is a God, how come he didn't fix your family? How come he didn't save your mother from your father?" Mr. Dodson falteringly responds that God gave us free will, and that it is not that God leaves us alone, God just doesn't fix everything. Katherine, however, refuses to relent, ending the conversation by stating that "It doesn't help to believe in God. We have to help ourselves." This is a common sentiment, one which most every individual raised in a faith tradition asks at one point or another. The problem of evil and suffering in our world is an immense stumbling block to any belief in a benevolent deity. One need only look at the headlines of a newspaper to see that the amount, intensity, and duration of suffering in our world is horrendous. Where is God in ethic strife or sever malnourishment or the homeless man on the corner of Grand and highway 40? This "spiritual crisis" or disillusionment, or even just an overwhelming realization of suffering, is a common human experience that is often neglected in young adult literature. In fact, this is the first YA novel that I have read where the theme even surfaces. Yet, often the high school years are the time for such questioning and criticizing of accepted beliefs. That this novel addresses the topic at all is refreshing and, quite frankly, authentic. Despite the increased secularization of the world, we still live in a primarily religious society where the majority of people affiliate with some group or another, or if not, remain influenced by the religions surrounding them. It is a topic that deserves more space.
This novel engaged these issues without focusing on them as the central plot so don't get turned off by my preaching. Really, the spiritual crisis is ancillary to the bigger issue of trying to survive on one's own with no money and no parents. It is, as School Library Journal writes, "heartbreaking and beautifully written." I read it in one sitting because I had to know what happened.
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