Koja, Kathe. Going under.

KOJA, Kathe. Going under. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 128p. c2006. 0-374-30393-2. $16.00. S*

Sixteen-year-old Hilly and her older brother Ivan have always been extraordinarily close; both brilliant, they were home-schooled by their unconventional parents. Their relationship has always been "pilot to co-pilot," with Ivan as treacherous pilot and Hilly as naive acolyte. When Ivan turns 19 but refuses to go to college, instead spending his time playing endless games of Shards of Evil and telling himself he's a student of human nature, Hilly joins the staff of the literary magazine at the local high school. Ivan disapproves of her bid for freedom and is well ... gratified when Hilly's friend at the school commits suicide and Hilly spirals into depression. Ivan, whose parents are clearly unhealthily awed by his intelligence and take-charge manner, decides to supervise Hilly's therapy with a local well-known psychiatrist. Hilly soon recognizes the psychiatrist for a manipulative phony but Ivan, flattered by the man's attentions, falls under his spell, to Hilly's cost.

Told in the alternating voices of Ivan and Hilly, this novel is a character study and a look at one character's self-delusion. Interspersed with numerous references to the legend of Persephone, the theme seems to be that individuals must enter hell and then return, irrevocably changed, to find out who they really are. The language is poetic. The characters are interesting, except that Ivan seems, for much of the novel, pathologically self-centered--and yet, in the end, he, too, is in the process of redemption. Maybe that's a good message. Complexly themed and intricately structured, this short novel offers much for discussion and thought. Myrna Marler, Assoc. Prof. of English, BYU, Provo, UT

S--Recommended for senior high school students.

*--The asterisk highlights exceptional books.