Noggin

Noggin

YA fiction
"Listen--I was alive once and then I wasn't. Now I'm alive
again. The in-between part is still a little fuzzy, but I can tell
you that, at some point or another, my head got chopped and shoved
into a freezer in Denver, Colorado."
If someone gave out awards for really captivating book first
paragraphs, John Corey Whaley's Noggin would score a gold. It would
be impossible to put down a novel that starts like that. You need to
at least see why anyone's head would be chopped off and put in a
freezer without a demented killer being involved. Fortunately
Whaley's narrative lives up to the promise of its beginning. Its
gripping plot and believable characters make technology as of now out
of reach and its effect on human life seem totally plausible.
As the story opens, Travis, Whaley's protagonist, is waking up
from what feels to him like a regular sleep. Doctors, nurses, and his
parents are thrilled beyond measure that he can wiggle his fingers and
toes and blink his eyes. You see his head, detached from his cancer-
ridden body has been in cryogenic slumber for five years before being
surgically attached to a donor body. He's only the second person who
has survived the procedure.
To say Travis' life has changed in ways he'd never imagined it
would when he agreed to the experiment is quite the understatement.
While the five years have elapsed in the blink of an eye for him, they
have been long and hard for his family and friends who have had to
adjust to his loss and move on. His girlfriend is engaged to someone
else. While his chums are in college and the work world and his birth
certificate indicate that he's 21, he is stuck repeating his sophomore
year in high school in a class of strangers.
Compounding Travis' plight is that all his adjustments must take
place in the eye of a very fascinated public. On even the most
mundane of errands folks pull out their cameras to take his picture.
Letters from strangers pour in by the boxful. Doctors and politicians
debate the meaning of his continued existence on television. Some see
him as nothing less than a miracle; others discern in him a sign of
the end times.
As well as being a fascinating read,
Noggin couldn't be more timely. These days in the medical field
people are constantly achieving the previously impossible. In most
ways this is a very good thing. Far fewer kids, for example, die from
cancer than in my childhood. However, our grasp of psycholigical,
social, and ethical aspects lags far behind.
On a personal note, I remember when I heard about the first test tube
baby being born. The first thought that went through my mind was, "I
wonder how they're going to tackle that birds and bees talk with her."
A great big shout out goes out to all who struggle with unforseen
consequences in this brave new world we find ourselves in.
Julia Emily Hathaway



Sent from my iPod