Touched [NOOK Book]

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Overview

Robbie Young is an ordinary twelve-year-old boy about to drop a bombshell that will devastate his small town family. One day he rides his bike home after school, finds his mother in the kitchen making dinner, and speaks aloud the secret he's been keeping for a year, "Jerry Houseman's been touching me." Robbie has been molested and the Young family will never be the same. From that moment on, the novel unfolds with inexorable power. The story is narrated in four parts: first by Robbie's mother, then by Jerry Houseman himself, then by Houseman's wife Linda, and concluded by Robbie himself fifteen years later, when he has returned to town for a high school reunion. Each voice is remarkably persuasive and utterly convincing,
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More About This Book

Overview

Robbie Young is an ordinary twelve-year-old boy about to drop a bombshell that will devastate his small town family. One day he rides his bike home after school, finds his mother in the kitchen making dinner, and speaks aloud the secret he's been keeping for a year, "Jerry Houseman's been touching me." Robbie has been molested and the Young family will never be the same. From that moment on, the novel unfolds with inexorable power. The story is narrated in four parts: first by Robbie's mother, then by Jerry Houseman himself, then by Houseman's wife Linda, and concluded by Robbie himself fifteen years later, when he has returned to town for a high school reunion. Each voice is remarkably persuasive and utterly convincing, and the result is a novel that is impossible to put down as it is impossible to forget.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Honest, unpretentious prose characterizes this first novel about a case of criminal sexual misconduct and two families in crisis. In the opening chapter, set in 1980, Linda Young, 33, who lives in a "friendly, safe" neighborhood in Jackson, Mich., describes the moment when her 12-year-old son, Robbie, drops "his bomb": "Jerry Houseman's been touching me." Robbie says the abuse has been going on for "a while," which stretches into a few months, then a year. Jerry, a neighbor with three daughters, has been showering Robbie with gifts, treating him like a surrogate son-or so Linda has assumed. Robbie begs his mother not to tell anyone, but she and her husband call the police. Campbell delivers the story of Jerry's arrest, trial and the aftermath, from four points of view. They include Linda's unabashedly angry account, Jerry's detached and sentimental narration and a poignant portrait by Jerry's wife, Jeanette, of her husband, who has been previously attracted to young boys. The final and most convincing voice, that of Robbie as a young adult, gets to the heart of the boy's turmoil. Readers must wade past some superficial narrative here, but they'll find that, through Jeanette and Robbie, Campbell accomplishes the formidable task of illuminating the complex feelings and issues that confront his seemingly ordinary people. (Apr.)
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From The Critics
Campbell is right on target in this first novel, which takes a close look at child sexual abuse. Robbie Young seems like a typical, healthy 12-year-old until the day he tells his mother, "Jerry Houseman's been touching me." From that point his life spins out of control. Jerry is arrested, Robbie testifies in court, and Jerry is sentenced to ten years in prison. Robbie's story develops layer by layer as the incident is recounted, first by Robbie's mother, then by Jerry, Jerry's wife, and finally Robbie himself. Each player brings a different perspective to the story as each looks at the sequence of events, analyzes motives, responds to emotions, and assigns guilt. Unfortunately, no one considers the child. Campbell treats an emotional topic with calm intelligence, looking at the ramifications of each player's actions and following the incident to its logical conclusion. Recommended for most fiction collections.-Thomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780307570772
  • Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
  • Publication date: 10/7/2009
  • Sold by: Random House
  • Format: eBook
  • Pages: 324
  • File size: 2 MB
  • Items ship to U.S, APO/FPO and U.S. Protectorate addresses.

Meet the Author

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell (Scott C.) is a maker of paintings, illustrations, comics, children’s books, and videogames. At Double Fine Productions, he art directed the critically acclaimed videogames Brutal Legend and Psychonauts. His paintings have been featured in galleries around the world, including Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles, Galerie Arludik in Paris, and the London Miles Gallery. He lives and works in New York City.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 12, 2000

    Well-written and Tragic

    Scott Campbell delivers a touching, sensitive and well-written novel about life, people, and what it takes to love someone sometimes. And loving someone well, often times, is not always enough. Meet Jerry Houseman: loving and doting father, attentive and supportive husband, and sexual compulsive. See, Jerry falls in love with little boys. Deep, confusing, and often tragic love...with boys barely 12. He thought he could combat these feelings after that first time in the war, with an asian prostitute...but those dark desires returned and invaded his home, his life, and eventually, tore his family apart. Told from four differing points of view, Campbell brings us 'Touched', the story of Houseman and his family, the effects of his compulsion on his family, the family of the boy he is accused of molesting, and on Houseman as well. The reader is allowed a peek into the mind of a man compelled, almost against his will, it seems, to love boys. Campbell effectively writes his narratives in believable voices with wholly believable storylines. Not recommended for the morally faint, 'Touched' is a book that everyone should read, if only for the sensitive and open-minded portrayal of lives on the edge of destruction.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 18, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

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