Surrender

In a muggy and tired Australian country town, a delicate boy by the name of Anwell lives with his oppressive parents. At age 20, Anwell is wasting away on his deathbed, the victim of an unidentifiable disease. In the meantime, his childhood friend, the wild child arsonist Finnigan, roams with his dog, Surrender, who used to be Anwell’s. Told in flashbacks, Anwell remembers his moments with Finnigan, his psychotic control-freak parents, his crush Evangeline, Surrender, and the time he and Finnigan came up with a nickname for himself: Gabriel, the angel. So Gabriel was the good boy and Finnigan the bad.

The town of Mulyan has been rampaged by a firebug on and off for the past few years. These fires tear the town apart and alienate show more Gabriel’s family even more from everyone. The firebug was never caught, and suspicions and accusations abound and break down any sense of trust this small town could have. The years pass and Gabriel’s parents become more controlling and restrictive. It is only some time before Gabriel finally snaps, and when he does, what secrets do we the readers learn as a result?

Sonya Hartnett has written a beautiful yet tortuous novel. Poetic elegance flows within every sentence. Every single word has been painstakingly chosen for its significance. And from this prose foundation grows a touching and haunting story about the power of parental abuse on a vulnerable child’s mind. show less

*SPOILERS* Anwell, at age 20, lies dying and looks back on his boyhood, in particular, the events as related to a friend he made in Finnegan. Anwell (or Gabriel, as Finnegan calls him) grew up as a town outcast in a dysfunctional family. At age 7, he accidentally suffocates his disabled older brother in a refrigerator when trying to shush his tantrum while their mother is sick. He meets Finnegan, a rough-edged independent boy with apparently no home or family. They agree to become brother reflections of each other; Gabriel is the angel, the good boy, and Finnegan does all the bad things. A series of arsons plagues the small town where Gaariel lives, all caused by Finnegan, although he is never caught. As the stakes are upped, Gabriel show more wants out of their pact. To me, it was uncertain if Finnegan was a real person or, as a reviewer suggested, if Gabriel was schizophrenic. show less

Harrowing, unsettling, painful and beautifully written. So close to five stars. The only thing that held me back from bestowing the ultimate mark was the fact that I ended up with a fairly large "wh..wh...whaaat?" reaction. I have a vague feeling I kind of, maybe know what it was all about, but I suspect I could be completely wrong. I'd have liked just a little more clarity on that front but I'm very happy to have read this and to now let it slowly percolate through my consciousness. Maybe one day the meaning will become if not clear at least a little less muddy.

September 2012: Six months later and I'm convinced that no amount of percolation is going to de-muddy that ending. I'm still as bemused as I was the day I finished reading. Oh well.

I picked up this book randomly and I was surprised at first to find out that it was classed as 'young adult' fiction. The story is rather bleak and has at least one very disturbing scene. The writing is inventive, compelling, and easy to read. The whole story pushes you towards the final surprising conclusion. It's hard to find a connection to the characters however, there isn't much good to be found in any of them. The main theme here is freedom, which is of course a central element of growing up, so I suppose that makes the 'young adult' label relevant.

As this novel opens, twenty year old Anwell is on his deathbed recalling his troubled childhood and his unusual friendship with Finnegan, a boy whose friendship Anwell keeps a secret from his cruel parents and tormenting schoolmates. Finnegan and Anwell make a pact to be each other’s mirror opposites, therefore Finnegan christens Anwell after the angel Gabriel, and Finnegan sets out on a path of destruction, vowing to avenge Gabriel’s pain. Gabriel tells Finnegan everything and even shares his dog, Surrender, with him. But eventually Finnegan’s action’s become too much to bear and they soon drive Gabriel to commit unspeakable acts. Hartnett’s writing is simultaneously beautiful and eerie and she skillfully draws her reader show more into this chilling story where things are not as they always seem. show less

This is a physchological thriller at it's best. It's not often I have to go and read further about the book just to understand it a little better and this one was one of those books. We first meet Gabriel and Finnigan as they detail their own version of their story in parallel chapters. Gabriel, a 'kook' and Finnigan a seemingly wild orphan. They make a pact that Gabriel will be the good or angelic boy and Finnigan will only do bad things. Soon this pact begins to spin out of control and Gabriel does the only thing he can to end the madness...The amazing part about this book is how it makes you wonder if ANYTHING really happened as it was told? Everything is turned on it's head and nothing is as it seems. Hartnett drops little clues show more along the way, but they are so subtle, they are easily missed or absorbed into the story itself. Great, dark story that left me thinking about it for days afterwards. Now that's unusual for a YA book. show less

In both Surrender and American Born Chinese, two of the books on the Printz table this year, we deal with reflected images. The characters are looking at images of themselves through psychological lenses and deciding what they want to project. In Surrender, we are looking through a very dark lens, from a deathbed. For those readers who plan to read this exceptional Printz honor book, please look away. There is no way to really review this book without discussing, and spoiling, the ending. All clear? Anwell is not well. He is not at all well. He is responsible for the death of his brother Vernon, whom he locked in a refrigerator and killed when he, Anwell, was seven. Dysfunction is king in this family. Fast forward a few years and show more Anwell, now Gabriel the avenging angel, makes a bargain with Finnegan, a wild child (or is it Finnegan, the Everyman, whose fate is the fate of all men and whose wake we attend?). On the surface, Gabriel and Finnegan make a deal. Finnegan will take care of all the evil deeds and Gabriel will remain pure. As the book evolves, questions niggle? Just who is Finnegan anyway, and what is his relationship with Gabriel? Many readers have come away with many different text-based interpretations of the ending. I lean toward the camp that believes Finnegan and Gabriel are the reflected hopes and dreams of Anwell. This is Hartnett’s interpretation of schizophrenia and what it must be like for a troubled young soul like Anwell, faced with unspeakable horrors before he has learned to articulate his own feelings. This is the book to give to that older, sophisticated teen that wants the literary version of books like A Child Called It. Surrender reads like a psychological thriller, a thriller that is filled with exquisite language that allows for several satisfying, text-based interpretations vastly different from one another.

I didn’t like it because there was too much going on. AHS/CD show less