This story deals with a school shooting and like I said, dear reader…there is no going back with this one.
At what length does abuse change a child or teenager? How should we treat mental illness? What happens when we put on a facade of perfection and isolate ourselves? And what lies do we tell ourselves and others to maintain that facade? Even a counseling degree or loving parent can’t always penetrate into the deepest pain, self-distortion and evil. Bullying occurs at the public school with unimaginable consequences. Little does she realize the depth of sorrow her children are going through. Her twin son (Chris) and daughter (Maelyn) are at odds with each other and Natalie can’t get through to either of them despite being a popular radio counselor. She knows it…and indeed, with all the heart cry instincts of a mother, she’s right, even if the evidence isn’t clear.įor a long time he lived in the toy cupboard or on the nursery floor, and no one thought very much about him.įrom there, we get a glimpse into the mother’s (Natalie) world. It’s beautifully juxtaposed with a dog-eared copy of The Velveteen Rabbit and memories of her hiding contraband in her drawers as a teenager. First of all, that beginning… A mother searches through her son’s drawers not certain what she is looking for. So that high praise said, let’s dive into why The Hidden Side is so evocative and timely. The Hidden Side is something that needs to be read and discussed on a wide-scale basis. The skillful writing absolutely sucks the reader in. One of these days, I expect an inspirational author to win the Pulitzer.
In my humble opinion, it’s literary and needs to be viewed as such. The Hidden Side falls into this category. Extremely good novels…but once in awhile, I come across something truly profound. So I set it aside until I could devote a full, undivided attention to each page. I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind and I knew…KNEW…this was one of those books that had tremendous power and there would be no going back once started. I started Heidi Chiavaroli’s novel weeks ago and found myself unable to continue-but not for the reasons you might assume.
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