Going Under

Going Under
by Kathe Koja
Frances Foster Books
New York
2006
ISBN: 9780374303938

Plot Summary:
Hilly and Ivan are extremely intellectually gifted teenage siblings. Home-schooled by their mother, who basically left them to themselves and their brains, the two created their own separate universe--complete with a language. But when Hilly's newfound friend commits suicide, her parents (and even Ivan) are at a complete loss as to how to deal with her pain. At Ivan's bidding, their parents take Hilly to a psychoanalyst noted for his treatment of teenage girls. This decision aids in Hilly's spiraling displacement however,
and where she goes, goes Ivan.
Critical Evaluation:
Using the myth of Persephone and her journeys to hell as a kind of narrative reflecting pool, Koja creates a familial hothouse climate where Ivan and Hilly's symbiotic bond builds to a suffocating intensity. Alternating chapters recount each siblings emotional descent, and as each one worsens, the break between them becomes more and more complete. As the emotions accumulate, Koja tempers the escalation by the pattern of alteration, and by the absence of editorialization. The feelings deepen, and through the words and the weaving, all the reader is left with are the emotions. This paring-down effect allows the writing and the feelings to remain in pure, unadulterated prominence.
Reader's Annotation:
Because of ten measly pomegranate seeds, Persephone was fated to travel to hell for the rest of her days. However, as Hilly painfully discovers, the trip to hell can be handled, as long as the way out and up can always be found.
Author Info:
Kathe Koja is the author of six young adult books of fiction, all of which have met critical acclaim, and noted awards. straydog was the recipient of awards from both the Humane Society and the SPCA. Koja has written science fiction and adult literature, but her path as of late is in the young adult field. She lives in Detroit with her husband and cats.
Genre:
Mythology/Issues/YA Fiction
Reader Level/Interest Age:
A young adult novel, yet so wonderfully written and emotionally complex that it will delight serious readers of any age.
Booktalking Ideas:
*Are Hilly and Ivan siblings or Siamese twins?
*How does the alternating perspective provide windows into the personalities of both?
*Due to Ivan's somewhat predatory machinations, do reader sympathies slant towards Hilly?
Challenge Issues:
Though the theme of suicide is obviously mature, its handling is sensitive, and none of the novel's intensity can be considered dangerous for teen readers.
Why Include?:
I had read of Koja's work, seeing praise for her novel Buddha Boy, however her inclusion of Greek mythology in Going Under proved more alluring.