My Sister Rosa

My Sister Rosa

YA fiction
"Rosa is a ticking bomb.
I don't think it matters what you call it: psychopathy,
sociopathy, antisocial personality disorder, evil, or the devil
within. What matters is how to prevent the bomb from exploding.
It would be a lot easier if the parentals believed Rosa is a
bomb. It would be even easier if she wasn't a bomb. I would give
anything for her not to be the way she is. Rosa ticks off everything
on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist except for promiscuity, driving too
fast, and other adult sins. Give her time."
For some reason I didn't read William March's The Bad Seed when
it came out...maybe because I turned three that year. I mastered
functional literacy but was still in the children's wing as far as
literary choices were concerned. I did see the movie, being something
like five when it came out. It and Hitchcock's The Birds were the
movies that terrified me the most from my formative years. Recall
those were the years before movies were age rated.
Lucky for horror story affecianados in the YA/adult adult
range, Justine Larbalestier was inspired to reread the book and
research state of the art intelligence on psychopathology. My Sister
Rosa (source of the above quote) is the impossible to put down result
of her inspiration.
Narrator Che and his family are en route to New York City when
readers first encounter them. His parents are embarking on a business
venture bankrolled by old friends. Che is anything but thrilled. On
the eve of his seventeenth birthday, he'd much rather be headed back
to his native Australia.
The family moves a lot. In each place Che writes a goal list.
The items always start off with keeping Rosa under control. Almost
from the beginning she's been like unlike other kids. Emotions and
responses to other human beings came slow for her. And then there was
her fascination with killing insects.
Che and Rosa's parents will accept that Rosa may be socially
awkward or developmentally delayed. But they won't go anywhere near
to believing they may have brought a full fledged sociopath into the
world. Rosa is smart, manipulative, beautiful, and very charismatic.
So far no being larger than a guinea pig has died. But in New
York Rosa is quick to set goals of her own and identify people who
might stand in the way of her getting what she wants.
For ten years Che has been in charge of protecting Rosa from the
world. Now he has to find a way to protect the world from her.
On a personal note, yesterday I decided I'd get a bunch of signatures
on my YOU ARE WELCOME HERE sign before I turn it into Multicultural
Center. I started with my 2 churches. It's looking good. My sign
and I were cited in a sermon on combatting racism as a good example.
Today is my first college class in 27 years. I am so ready. I am
also bogged down in a massive project of rearranging furniture so I
can move an old recliner and bureau out of the studio. Nothing a sane
person would do on the first day of school. The house has to not look
like a hurricane struck when Eugene comes home. Yikes!
A great big shout goes out to all who are going back to school today.
jules hathaway


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