From Publishers Weekly
Cadnum (Calling Home; Breaking the Fall) keeps readers on the edge of their seats with this taut psychological portrait. What begins as a department store prank-fooling floorwalkers and detectives by pretending to shoplift-spins out of control when high school junior Anna Charles starts finding items in her purse and pockets that she does not remember taking. In her precarious mental state, Anna comes dangerously close to alienating herself from those who would be able to help her: her father, a high-profile lawyer; her independent-minded older brother, Ted; her best friend, Maureen; her mother and her new stepfather, a pop psychologist. With subtlety and tremendous insight, Cadnum draws connections between the causes and manifestations of Anna's kleptomania while revealing the complexity of her family life. As Anna narrates her tale in powerfully elliptical fashion, readers' perceptions of the protagonist and her dark journey through uncertainty will change dramatically. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up?In Breaking the Fall (Viking, 1992), Cadnum examined the function of crime in the lives of two boys who break into homes while the occupants sleep. Taking It is less suspenseful but more clearly focused, providing a new context for similar themes. Anna, 17, is caught in the middle of a broken marriage. She has invented a game in which she pretends to shoplift. Feasting on this delicious delusion, she enjoys spotting the plain-clothes detectives and knowing when they have spotted her. Then pretense becomes fact and she is stunned by the realization that her game has become an addiction?the one part of her life that she could control is now controlling her. Sadly, her parents are too preoccupied to respond to her signals for help. Caring but detached, they have given her a life of material affluence and emotional impoverishment. Turning to friends and finally to her older brother for support, she finds that they, too, are too involved in their own problems to take on hers. In desperation, she takes her car on a wild ride of escape, with nearly tragic consequences. Shocked into acknowledging their daughter's deep need for attention, her parents appear ready to take action at last. The story ends with a sense of hope that a resolution is at least possible, if not guaranteed. Some readers may have difficulty with the author's style, yet ultimately Anna's confusion is made all the more palpable by the disjointed way she relates her ordeal. She becomes a very real presence. The other characters are less complete, but Cadnum includes what is essential, and that is enough. If his work continues to show the skill and sensitivity contained in this novel, like Cormier and Crutcher he is sure to acquire and deserve many devoted followers.?Margaret Cole, Oceanside Library, NY
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Gr. 9^-12. Anna's shoplifting games began as a challenge, something to test the limits of the adult world. Her parents are wealthy--she doesn't need to steal. But they are divorced, her brother lives 500 miles away in Los Angeles, and Anna is feeling increasingly alienated from her family and friends. Her compulsion to steal results in a terrifying loss of self and an all-night drive from her East Bay home to her brother's place and on into the desert toward Las Vegas, where her '67 Mustang, and Anna herself, finally break down. In tight, beautiful prose, Cadnum skillfully constructs scenes filled with well-chosen details--characters' clothing, Anna's car, the California landscapes, and various objects of our contemporary culture. His characterizations of Anna, her best friend, Maureen, and Anna's parents and brother are well drawn. Anna's psychological deterioration and her family's denial of the true depth of her problem--even through the novel's end--are handled with finesse, making this a believable portrayal of a modern family's breakup. Cadnum's postmodern tone of despair and his expressive writing style, which presumes a sophisticated reader, stretch the literary boundaries of the YA problem novel. This one should not be missed. Merri Monks
Review
Anna plays shoplifting games at the local department stores and has security systems down to a fine art; but now she can t remember everything she s stealing. Cadnum s use of the first person provides an exceptional, strong approach which probes the concerns and mind of a teen who can t stop stealing. -- Midwest Book Review
