Nothing by Janne Teller

Nothing by Janne Teller may very well be the most disturbing novel I have ever read. The story begins with a bunch of 7th graders in Denmark coming back to school after summer vacation.  Just as they are settling in a classmate,Pierre Anthon, gets up, declares that nothing matters, that there is no meaning in life, leaves the classroom, scales a plum tree, and sits there. He sits in the tree day after day taunting his classmates. When ignoring him and then pelting him with rocks doesn't work the classmates set to the task of building a pile of meaning from the things that they treasure.  What starts off as seemingly harmless and possibly fun task soon evolves into a grossly perverse and sickening one with each item added to the "pile of meaning" worse and more dear than the last.

This short book took me less than two hours to read but I did so with my hand over my mouth in horror the whole time. Nothing has won all kinds of awards in Europe and I wonder if it will be an award winner in America, too.  I certainly am considering it for one of the 10 books for my Mock Printz Workshop.  The only problem is that it is so disturbing.  This book begs to be discussed, perhaps as a form of therapy, after completion. On a weird but lighter note, I kept thinking of Dr. Seuss stories like Yertle the Turtle, The Butter Battle Book, or The Lorax while I was reading Nothing.  It certainly has that cautionary-tale quality to it that a lot of Dr. Seuss books have, minus, of course, the cute pictures and the happy endings.

So with this kind of recommendation do you dare read the book?  I say you should.  If for no other reason that we can discuss it after you are finished.