Teller, Janne. nothing. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2000.
Annotation: Pierre Anton is a young boy who suddenly forms the opinion that there is nothing of any value in the world. Life is only the span of time is takes to move from birth to inevitable death with nothing meaningful in between. In an attempt to prove him wrong, Peirre’s friends sacrifice everything of meaning to them in this existential tale.
Justification of Rejection: Although this story begs a fascinating question: what is important to you and why? this book is a one-trick pony that drags the reader into a pit of despair and abandons them there. The plot and setting seem to connect to Beckett’s Waiting for Godot with the introductory character of Pierre Anton climbing up into a lonely plum tree, barren in it’s autumn respite and declaring that he will not descend until someone can prove that life has some meaning to it. The rest of the book is an unfolding of Pierre’s friends sacrificing something dear to them to create a “pile of meaning” in a nearby abandoned sawmill. This begins with Dennis who sacrifices a Dungeons and Dragons book and a pattern begins where the person who sacrificed gets to choose the next person and what object they have to ante up. This quickly spirals out of control and leads to the contribution of a pet hamster which freezes to death on the pile, the exhumed corpse of a dead baby brother, the destruction and decapitation of a dog, the deflowering/rape of Sophie, and a finger crudely amputated from Jon-Johan. This morbid pile does lead to Pierre Anton descending from his tree only to be beaten mercilessly by his “friends” and cremated along with the sawmill and the pile of meaning which seems to prove his point that there is no meaning in life.
If you had the feeling that the names of characters I dropped were meaningless then you have a good sense of the character development of this book for we don’t get much more than that in the entire novel. The device of each child (these children are about 13 to 15 years old) sacrificing an object to the pile reveals one superficial aspect of each child each chapter for the majority of the book (hence one-trick-pony). Sophie is a virgin and so is forced into sex, Jon-Johan plays guitar and so looses a finger…but that’s about it. There are a few dynamic changes such as Sophie going crazy but these are melodramatic at best.
One of the main reasons this book suffers is the narrative voice. Although written in the first person, the voice of Agnes is not that of a 13 to 15 year old. Lines like, “Tall fir trees sheltered the churchyard from the street, and although they may well have protected us from any inquisitive gaze, they also screened off the street lighting, which we suddenly found ourselves in want of,” (Teller 80) do not emanate from an authentic young voice. But this is to a purpose. The voice and tone are clinically detached from the horrible events making the actions of the children themselves detached and soulless. But the content is so morbid we really don’t need it mired further by the gloomy narrative voice. It becomes hyperbolic and almost seems to be reaching for dark comedy. But as we know, a joke that misses its mark and falls flat makes us want to groan and boo. It’s extra miserable weight that this story doesn’t need.
Ironically this book has some success through the same devices by which it fails. It forces a reaction from the reader through its repulsion to form their own answer to Pierre Anton’s question as to what does have meaning in life. When we react strongly to the horrible actions of the children we’re affirming our own beliefs and therefore the discussion that this book could inspire could lead to very thoughtful insight and challenging assessments of the book. But for someone reading this book independently it only serves to reaffirm our own beliefs or to inspire Pierre Anton’s attitude that there is no meaning in life, no feeling, nothing. This is the attitude of a sociopath and seems to be the “truth” of the story unless the reader challenges it. It seems to condone robbery, vandalism, animal cruelty, rape, mutilation and even murder because the characters barely reflect on the terrible things they are doing. Therefore in and of itself I wouldn’t recommend this book when there are so many others out there that tread the same ground. Metamorphosis, The Stranger, and Nausea, just off the top of my head. I’d encourage anyone to read something else rather than nothing.
Genre of Catalog: Parable, Danish (translated to English), Horror. Danish Cultural Ministry Prize for best children's/youth book of 2001. Awards: Le Prix Libbylit 2008. Awards: Michael L. Printz Award, 2011.
