A girl with a mysterious past embarks on a journey across America to save a friend and find herself. Haunted by a family tragedy she feels responsible for, 18-year-old Clara has traveled the world but can't leave her past behind. This seems especially true when, on a flight to Minneapolis, she sits next to 'an interesting bloke' named Elias Phinn, who seems to know her life, including details of the tragedy---her Great Undoing---she has never revealed to anyone. Clara follows Elias to his home, an inn 'populated with the mad and deranged.' It turns out that Elias is suffering from dissociative identity disorder: There are two Eliases, the 'real,' lucid one and the mentally ill one inhabiting an imaginary world that he calls Salem---and the paranoid one seems to be taking over, unless 'normal' Elias can figure out how to destroy the evil that comes from a mysterious 'Keeper' at a lighthouse. Friesen's writing is at times stunning, neatly adept at capturing the 'terror of loose footing' that affects both Elias and Clara and creating an unease in readers as well. The sheer weirdness of Elias' alternative world will intrigue readers, and after Elias and Clara's phantasmagoric road trip following stars and myths, those readers will appreciate a grizzled old Mainer's matter-of-fact story that neatly explains everything. A haunting tale for teens with a taste for the bizarre * Kirkus *
Believing she caused a family tragedy (AKA her Great Undoing), 18-year-old Clara bolted from her London home. She has since been traveling the world using her father's journal as a guide. On a flight to Minneapolis, she meets Elias, who eerily seems to know everything about her. Discovering that their bags were switched, she locates his home and discovers two Eliases. He suffers from DID---Disassociative Identity Disorder---and swings from sweet Elias to the Other One, who lives in the imaginary world of Salem. Troubled by her past and about Elias' condition, Clara has as much difficulty finding her footing as does Elias about his lost spans of time. Nevertheless, determined to help good Elias overcome the Other One, Clara nevertheless takes him on a journey to find and destroy a mysterious being Elias calls the Keeper. They follow the stars, interpret myths, and utilize Clara's journal only to end up at a lighthouse on the coast of Maine, where they meet someone who knows the truth. Part Alice in Wonderland, part roleplaying game, and all weird road-trip adventure, Friesen's storytelling is laser-beam sharp, making the characters (and the readers) teeter as if on a warped balance beam. The concept of DID will fascinate readers as will the semi-otherworldly adventure. --- Jeanne Fredriksen --- STARED BOOKLIST REVIEW * Booklist *
BOTH OF ME by Jonathan Friesen is unlike any other story. With its unique premise, scenes that will make you laugh out loud one minute and then totally break your heart once you turn the page, this is one book that is just going to stick with you. BOTH OF ME tells the story of Clara, a girl from London who runs away from her family obligations in search of a life filled with adventure. She carries her father's journal, which documents his crazy travel experience from before she was born, and uses that as her guide around the globe. Clara knows not to get emotionally attached to anyone (especially boys) since she has proven to herself that anyone she loves ends up hurt by her actions. On a flight, she sits next to a boy named Elias. He is totally cute, but super strange. He speaks to Clara about things she had no idea about until she notices a drawing in her sketchbook that looks just like her dead mother. Intrigued by this guy and how he knows about her life, Clara tries talking to him, but he resists any interaction with her. Once they're both off the plane, Clara realizes someone took her bag and the one she has belongs to the boy she say next to, Elias. Clara goes to Elias' home to trade her bag back and she sees that he lives in the bed and breakfast his mother owns. Elias, though, has no recollection of meeting Clara and this time she meets the side of Elias that is sweet, charming and could be the guy who steals her heart. Elias' mom tells Clara that Elias suffers from a type of multiple personality disorder and when the Other One makes his way to the surface, the real Elias disappears and never remembers what he does as this other personality. The other side of Elias is all about going on a mission to save the fictional world of Salem he thinks he lives in and to destroy the evil Lightkeeper. Clara decides it's her duty to help the Elias she cares about figure out what made this other side to him appear when he was eight years old and to find out what he know * Miss Literati (part of Bauer Teen's Bop and Tiger Beat magazines network) *
A riveting novel of complex storytelling and deftly crafted character dialogues, 'Both Of Me' is a thoroughly entertaining read that is very highly recommended for both personal reading lists and community library collections. Simply stated, Jonathan Friesen is a compellingly gifted novelist who will leave his readers looking eagerly toward his next literary effort.' * Midwest Book Review *
