Conversion

This is an excellent book that does an incredible job of "braiding," that is joining 3 distinct related periods, two of which are historical. The story, set in the spring 2012 semester at the prestigious St. Joan's Catholic School for Girls chronicles bizarre behavior in many of the students beginning in February of 2012. The torment the girls at St. Joan's survived is a thinly veiled telling of the very real series of similiar illness in Le Roy, New York during that same time frame in February of 2012. The related historical eras are 1692, the Salem Witch Trials and 1706 when Ann Putnam Jr. recants her 1692 testimony during a confession to her Reverend.What makes this book even more interesting and distinct is that the author herself is the direct descendant of 3 of those tried for witchcraft during the trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Her fictional St. Joan's School is in Danvers Massachusetts, which was formerly Salem, Massachusetts.While the mystery illness in Le Roy New York has been taxed with toxic exposure from a train crash near the town in 1970 and the closing down of factories in the 1960s (most notably the Jell-O factory in 1964), the questions remain and the jury is still out on what caused several girls and one boy to fall prey to a series of bizarre behaviors and unexplained ailments.Outsiders too think toxic waste and other environmental hazards might be what's causing the rash of bizarre behaviors at St. Joan's. One girl's hair falls out; another becomes paralyzed; still another vomits pins and one girl begins talking backward only in the presence of a specific peer. What is going on? Colleen, 18 and a senior is the protagonist of this story. She is one of the few who don't appear to have been affected. Her brother Mike Jr., 14 and in 8th grade attends the boys' brother school St. Innocent's and none of the boys have experienced the torments that the girls of St. Joan's have. Their youngest sister, Louisa, given the atrocious nickname of Wheez, 7 is like a little ghost. She enters and leaves rooms and her presence seldom leaves any impressions. Colleen, also saddled with a horrible nickname (Colliewog) describes Louisa is being easily overlooked. An interesting parallel here - Louisa's spectral presence can almost be seen as a literary metaphor for the specters the Salem girls described in 1692.As with Katherine Howe's books, the chapters are interspersed with Interludes heralded by the time frame and the speaker and closed with a Postlude from a historical figure, real or literary (in the case of this particular book, an actual person.) Questions and possible answers are presented - PANDAS, a strep-based neurological condition that causes behavior very similar to what the Salem girls of 1692 and the Danvers girls of 2012 exhibit; a vaccine or maybe even a virus. The school nurse and even some staff are under fire and all are under public scrutiny. The media descends on the school like a wolf pack, eager to sink their teeth into a possible student or faculty member willing to talk to them.Nobody is safe. One beloved teacher leaves under a cloud; an administrator is viewed with suspicious eyes and even a new teacher with an abiding interest in Arthur Miller's play about the Salem Girls, "The Crucible" are not safe from the media's relentless eye.All these questions, including Ann Putnam's recantation of her Salem performance are trotted out. Ann, in 1706 by then long grown admitted that the girls put on a show which would in subsequent generations raise the question of whether or not the need for attention and undue amounts of academic related stress on the St. Joan's and the Le Roy students have been manifested in this way.And yet, there might be yet another answer -- conversion! Is that even a real condition? Do the girls of St. Joan's suffer from a desire for attention (doubtful, given the behavior and the symptoms)? A sensitivity to environmental factors? PANDAS? Adverse reactions to a vaccination? Perhaps the yellow bird that Colleen sees outside her window knows.As another U.S. reviewer noted, once the case reached the media, practically all involved, save for the girls themselves had some kind of self seeking, self promoting agenda. The media people and the environmental ecobiologist who came to St. Joan's to seek out possible environmental causes did indeed manipulate the girls to some degree. Colleen, who appeared to have dodged the worst of the epidemic's bullets was more or less dismissed by the media person she spoke to and was in effect patronized and told the whole thing was stress and pressure related and a case of conversion.There were some genuinely dislikable characters in this book. Bethany Witherspoon, a celebrity known for her environmental watchdog activism and films is officious and odious. She has an agenda and in effect is exploiting the girls and staff at St. Joan's. You just want to kick her in the shins. You also want to kick Kathy Carruthers, a parent who acts a fool and makes a spectacle of herself on television and in public. One can understand the concern she has for her daughter. However, her behavior and tendency towards bullying make her dislikable.This book is a work of sheer brilliance. Katherine Howe is a gifted writer and this book left me wanting more. I think it would be an ideal book to have on a school Reading List and can take its place along with other extraordinary classics like  The Witch of Blackbird Pond  and  Beyond the Burning Time (Point Signature) .

There was a great deal to like in this book. Ms. Howe is an engaging writer. Her teenaged characters are neither Mary Sues nor stock archetypes. The main character has normal adolescent angst with all of the accompanying insecurities. While I was not in prep school like the girls in the book I could definitely relate to their problems. The main plot of the book centers around a girls' prep school in Danvers (formerly Salem Village) Massachusetts. During their senior year, a number of girls fall victim to a horrible illness in which they twitch, get uncontrollable verbal tics, lose their ability to walk, and even lose their hair. The media has a field day with the St. Joan's "Mystery Illness" and theorize causes on everything from environmental toxins to the HPV vaccine. Of course, because Danvers, Massachusetts is on the site of the former Salem Witch Trials, the implications of witchcraft are omnipresent. This witchcraft subplot was my main issue with the book and one that prevented me from giving it a higher rating.The academic pressure for the college-bound student is a very real bugaboo for any student in one's senior year. The panic over picking the right school, getting good SAT scores, maintaining good grades and getting through the admissions process can cause anybody to go kookoo for Cocoa Puffs. The book covered these topics admirably, and Colleen Rowley, the book's protagonist, was real and likeable with just the right touch of teenage snark to make her realistic. The fact that the book was based on real events that transpired in Le Roy, New York also gave the novel a verisimilitude that it might have lacked otherwise.The main issue I had with the book was the whole Salem witchcraft red herring. The historical flashbacks, while interesting, didn't ring true. The speech of the supposed 18th century characters sounded suspiciously like CNN newscasters. While I got the author's intended parallels--the author obviously doesn't have much faith in her readers' intelligence and spells it out for you--I thought it superfluous and detracted from the main plot. The only hint one gets of any supernatural hanky-panky comes at the end when the hypochondriac mother of the best friend intimates that, "My Emma's like me, you know..she's prone to spells" This is after Colleen accuses her best friend, Emma, of causing the whole thing. I suppose the witchery was inevitable given the setting, but it was distracting and poorly executed. The ending felt a bit rushed, as well. I got the feeling that Ms. Howe wanted to ascribe the mystery illness to supernatural factors and then changed her mind.The novel is a fairly intelligent YA read with enough plot twists to keep mystery fans content. The characters are realistic, if a bit stilted, but I chose to blame that on their New England WASP upbringing. In all, Conversion is an enjoyable mystery novel that encompasses adolescent academic angst admirably. (less)DeleteMar 04, 2015 07:14AM · · comment · see review · preview bookShannon S. rated a book 3 of 5 starsNow May You Weep (Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James, #9)by Deborah Crombie (Goodreads Author)read in March, 2015ReadMy rating:1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars[ 3 of 5 stars ]4 of 5 stars5 of 5 starsDeleteMar 04, 2015 06:56AM · · comment · preview bookShannon S. rated a book 5 of 5 starsClea (The Alexandria Quartet, #4)by Lawrence DurrellReadMy rating:1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars[ 5 of 5 stars ]DeleteFeb 18, 2015 01:11PM · · comment · preview bookShannon S. rated a book 4 of 5 starsMountolive (The Alexandria Quartet, #3)by Lawrence DurrellReadMy rating:1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars[ 4 of 5 stars ]5 of 5 starsDeleteFeb 18, 2015 01:11PM · · comment · preview bookShannon S. rated a book 4 of 5 starsBalthazar (The Alexandria Quartet, #2)by Lawrence DurrellReadMy rating:1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars[ 4 of 5 stars ]5 of 5 starsDeleteFeb 18, 2015 01:11PM · · comment · preview bookShannon S. wants to readCrimson Boundby Rosamund Hodge (Goodreads Author)Want to ReadRate this book1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 starsDeleteFeb 18, 2015 01:06PM · like · commentShannon S. rated a book 3 of 5 starsJustineby Marquis de SadeReadMy rating:1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars[ 3 of 5 stars ]4 of 5 stars5 of 5 starsDeleteFeb 17, 2015 06:14AM · · comment · preview bookMore of Shannon's books…editShannon’s QuotesChristopher Fry“We are all of us lost. 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The seller was great, got the book in time, it was exactly what I ordered. I was deceived by the book. It was not what I thought it would be. I was always waiting for some intrigue or for something big to happen. The last chapter has a little twist in but other than that, it was not what I expected.

Habe eine gebrauchte Version gekauft, die laut Einstufung sehr gut sein sollte, aber einfach ekelig aussieht und unangenehm riecht, nach alt und muffig....hätte ich dann eher neu gekauft wenn ich das gewusst hätte

A me e piaciuto molto, e anche vero che ho letto tutti i libri che ha scritto questa scrittrice. Posso consigliarlo a chi piace questo genere. Tutto come nella descrizione. Contenta del prezzo, servizio. Grazie Amazon.

Great for slightly younger readers (mid-teens). The author's historical notes at the end are also very interesting.

Sorry, I don't like it - for me too much nothing and not enough mystery about he witch trials. Personally will not finish.