|
Loading... The rag and bone shop : a novelby Robert Cormier
LibraryThing recommendationsMember recommendations
Loading...
won't like
will probably not like
will probably like
will like
will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  AStall | Sep 12, 2009 |  This novel proves to be an effective verbal cat-and-mouse mystery/thriller where the whole story takes place inside an interrogation room. I enjoyed the back and forth dialogue between Jason and Lieutenant Braxton. Though it was entertaining, I was somewhat dumbfounded concerning the ending. Young adult readers might be confused at the end. This novel proved to be a short entertaining read. (  ) SteveMiller | Jul 24, 2009 | (Mystery HS) This book is disturbing. It describes how a skilled adult can manipulate a vulnerable youth. The portrayal of the interrogation (which takes up a large chunk of the book) is sufficiently detailed to make the false confession believable. What is less believable is the idea that as a result that Jason himself would become a killer. That last piece stretches the imagination. Though the protagonist of the book is twelve, high school students would enjoy the psychological intrigue of this book. ( ) elizabethholloway | Jul 19, 2009 | Disturbingly wonderful. (  ) Aimal | Apr 21, 2009 | Summary: Twelve year old Jason has been wrongfully accused of murdering a 7-year-old girl from the neighborhood. Because Jason was the last person to see her alive, he is now the prime suspect. Police need to catch somebody in order for the neighborhood to feel safe and 12-year-old Jason seems like the right solution. Police bring in the best interrogator to make Jason break and at the end, they accomplished what they wanted but not before Jason discovers what he could be capable of doing. chufo | Mar 12, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
References to this work on external resources.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Book description |
|
A 7-year-old girl has been battered to death, and there are no suspects, no leads. The police, under political pressure to make an arrest, bring in Trent, a cold, ambitious professional interrogator who prides himself on his ability to extract confessions. His victim is 12-year-old Jason--the last person to see the girl. We know that Jason is innocent, and halfway through the interrogation Trent realizes it, too, in "a blazing moment." But like a medieval torturer, his goal is confession, not truth, and so he stifles his impulses for good and proceeds with the job, with deeply ironic consequences.
The interrogation itself, which forms the centerpiece of the novel, is dazzling in its elegant thrust-and-parry, its subtle twists and turns, as Jason frantically tries to escape, like a mouse caged with a python. The point of view snaps back and forth so that we are intensely aware of the shifting emotions of both participants in the deadly game. And once again, Cormier has given us an ending that seems provocative and uncomfortable--until we remember that the center of his moral universe was always summed up by the words "if only." (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell
(retrieved from Amazon Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:52:12 -0500)
The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details.
Quick Links |
Wikipedia in English
This had me on pins and needles! I loved it! It's the Stephen King for young people. It truly had a great setting and an eerie ending. I highly recommend this book!
In a class, we could stop without reading the end of the story and have each child write how they think the story will end (Oh, how wrong they will be!) and then actually read what happens. We also could investigate and do a report on what it takes to become a police officer who works on confessions. What kind of techniques do they use? Is it always the truth?