by Hayley Charlesworth
Cat Clarke’s Undone is an imperfect but exciting tale of heartbreak and revenge, one whose flaws are undercut by a strong lead and an intense emotional investment. While essentially a teen angst novel, it is tense, and at times shocking.
Cat Clarke’s Undone is an imperfect but exciting tale of heartbreak and revenge, one whose flaws are undercut by a strong lead and an intense emotional investment. While essentially a teen angst novel, it is tense, and at times shocking.
Undone is the story of Jem Halliday, a teenage goth loner who is in love with her gay best friend, Kai. But when Kai is outed in the nastiest way possible, he kills himself. Jem wants to follow him, but on the day she plans her own suicide, receives the first of twelve letters sent to her by Kai. Jem gives herself the rest of that year to live, and plans to use her remaining time to get revenge on those who stole Kai away from her.
The disappointment in Undone is, in fact, Kai’s suicide. While gay teens committing suicide over their sexuality is still a major issue in society, it does unfortunately add to the very long list of gay characters who are denied their happy ending. However, without this, there would be no plot, and Jem’s roaring rampage of revenge is an exciting read, even if her motivations aren’t as strong as they should be. At very few points do we see the depth of feeling Jem has for Kai, we are mostly just told that she loves him with very little evidence.
The book’s strengths, therefore, are when Jem’s angst manifests itself in manipulation and cunning. She changes her entire image to fit in with the popular crowd responsible, and must reconcile her thirst for revenge with her growing like for these people. It is this struggle that is the most fascinating, and following quite a few unexpected twists and turns, leads to a frankly shocking conclusion.
Jem becomes an unstoppable force, with her thirst for revenge insatiable at times, even as she finds it more and more difficult to separate the act from her own emotions, as she begins dating one of the guys she's trying to destroy, and one of the "popular" girls becomes her new best friend. But while her need to avenge Kai never wanes, her morals are repeatedly questioned, while at the same time, the deadline for her own suicide fast approaches and she has to decide if she still truly wants to die, or has Kai's death actually given her a new lease of life. It would be unfitting to reveal what direction Jem's story takes, but one of Undone's greatest strengths is the genuinely unexpected twist in the final chapters, and a surprisingly poignant and heart-stopping conclusion.
Undone is a very good vengeance story, with it’s only issue being a relatively weak backstory. Had we known Kai better as a person, or had his and Jem’s relationship been explored in more depth, it would have been almost perfect. Unfortunately, we don’t know Kai well enough to care very much about his suicide, and sadly, that makes his sexuality feel like little more than a plot device.
The disappointment in Undone is, in fact, Kai’s suicide. While gay teens committing suicide over their sexuality is still a major issue in society, it does unfortunately add to the very long list of gay characters who are denied their happy ending. However, without this, there would be no plot, and Jem’s roaring rampage of revenge is an exciting read, even if her motivations aren’t as strong as they should be. At very few points do we see the depth of feeling Jem has for Kai, we are mostly just told that she loves him with very little evidence.
The book’s strengths, therefore, are when Jem’s angst manifests itself in manipulation and cunning. She changes her entire image to fit in with the popular crowd responsible, and must reconcile her thirst for revenge with her growing like for these people. It is this struggle that is the most fascinating, and following quite a few unexpected twists and turns, leads to a frankly shocking conclusion.
Jem becomes an unstoppable force, with her thirst for revenge insatiable at times, even as she finds it more and more difficult to separate the act from her own emotions, as she begins dating one of the guys she's trying to destroy, and one of the "popular" girls becomes her new best friend. But while her need to avenge Kai never wanes, her morals are repeatedly questioned, while at the same time, the deadline for her own suicide fast approaches and she has to decide if she still truly wants to die, or has Kai's death actually given her a new lease of life. It would be unfitting to reveal what direction Jem's story takes, but one of Undone's greatest strengths is the genuinely unexpected twist in the final chapters, and a surprisingly poignant and heart-stopping conclusion.
Undone is a very good vengeance story, with it’s only issue being a relatively weak backstory. Had we known Kai better as a person, or had his and Jem’s relationship been explored in more depth, it would have been almost perfect. Unfortunately, we don’t know Kai well enough to care very much about his suicide, and sadly, that makes his sexuality feel like little more than a plot device.
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