Summary.
Cut is a very emotionally deep book. Callie ( the main character) is a fifteen year old girl recently admitted to Sea Pines or "Sick Minds," as the patients call it, for cutting. She uses sharp objects to cut herself when the stress of life becomes unbearable. The sharp edge, the rush of pain, the drops of blood... She gets a rush of release and feels great. Most of the other girls at Sick Minds are there for eating disorders. Callie feels different and alone. At first she does not speak at all. For several days she does not utter a single word. But she thinks and observes and records it all in the book as though she is writing to her therapist. Another girl at Sick Minds calls her “S.T.” for “Silent Treatment.” But despite her silent treatment, the other girls seem friendly towards her and continue talking to her. Amanda shows up half way through the book as another girl who cuts, but not for the same reasons Callie does. Amanda cuts for decorations, and oddly enough it kind of scares callie. But when another girl tells Callie that they are all there because they have issues, she begins to feel less alienated and eventually begins talking. When she finally begins speaking with her therapist we learn that she is under a great deal of stress at home. She has a younger brother that suffers from severe asthma, a mother that can’t handle it and is afraid of everything, and a father who deals with it all by never being around. Callie bears a great deal of responsibility at home and feels responsible for the happenings within her family. She takes everything that happens at home on her own shoulders as if they were her own fault. even if they had nothing to do with her.She must learn to talk to her family and deal with the stress in a more constructive way than cutting herself.