"The Marbury Lens" is Grippingly Real!

Due to the dumping of nearly 2 feet of snow in my town, I had some free time this past weekend to get some reading accomplished. I finished a couple of different books, for which I will eventually write reviews.  Let's start with...

At the suggestion of a colleague, I picked up The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith from my local library on the thoughts that I might introduce this book to my English 3 Honors class. What I found was a book with graphic imagery of attempted rape, murder, cannibalism, sexual content, drug use, and underage drinking, and yet, I really enjoyed... hmmm... maybe "enjoyed" is the wrong word here. I found the book riveting and disturbing!

Synopsis: "Sixteen-year-old Jack gets drunk and is in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is kidnapped. He escapes, narrowly. The only person he tells is his best friend, Conner. When they arrive in London as planned for summer break, a stranger hands Jack a pair of glasses. Through the lenses, he sees another world called Marbury. There is war in Marbury. It is a desolate and murderous place where Jack is responsible for the survival of two younger boys. Conner is there, too. But he’s trying to kill them. Meanwhile, Jack is falling in love with an English girl, and afraid he’s losing his mind. Conner tells Jack it’s going to be okay. But it’s not." (Book jacket)

Review:  This book is not for the faint of heart. The novel starts out with a bang - within the first few chapters, the protagonist, John ("Jack") Wynn Whitmore is forced to deal with a kidnapping and near rape at the hands of a murdering psychopath. As the story progresses, the reader is taken deeper and deeper into the world of a teenager who struggles to regain a sense of self, and his attempt to repair the growing crack in his reality. As the reader slides deeper into the story, one discovers what it means to be a victim or a fighter, and what it takes to transition from the former to the latter. Hidden within a riveting, fast-paced story is a deep level of psychological analysis.

The novel focuses on Jack's struggle to escape the role of victim he was forced into, and the attempt to defeat the side of him that is convinced he somehow deserved the trauma. It is about Jack's desperate fight to break out of the paralyzing and addictive state of mind that accompanies victimhood, and to become a strong, self-reliant person. The fantastical element of the Marbury lens being a portal into a parallel universe, where the world's malignance and brutality are laid bare instead of hidden as it is in ours, and where Jack is a warrior and protector instead of a frightened boy, is masterfully crafted and well delivered.

This book is listed as a Young Adult book which generally means ages 12 and older.  Personally, I would only recommend this book for ages 16 and older, as it is quite graphic. Also, due to the graphic nature and the exorbitant amount of f-bombs laced throughout the story, I probably will not be teaching this book in my class. Not that my students would be shocked or surprised by any of the content, but the school administration would most likely frown on my teaching this novel and I would like to keep my job. But I would recommend the novel for my students to read independently.

As I said, this novel is not for the squeamish.  It contains very disturbing images and although I'm glad that I read the novel, I probably would not want to read again. Smith has written a sequel, Passenger, which was released late last year. I'm on the fence on whether or not I will read it. From all accounts, it's even more graphic and disturbing than The Marbury Lens. I'm not certain that I want to continue swimming in that grotesque pool of misery, no matter how well written.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars