Overview
A brilliant young woman's fight against a debilitating psychological illness is set against the historical events of the Prague Spring and the anti-Soviet struggles in Czechoslovakia. When Jude's mother gets a fellowship to go to Prague to study, Jude's world is thrown into chaos. The teenage girl feels threatened and isolated. It turns out her whole family is going, but still Jude feels adrift. When she arrives in Prague and discovers that their life in the embassy compound is closely circumscribed by rules and regulations and that they are closely watched at all times, she begins to suffer even more. Desperate to break out of the constraints imposed on her and her family, Jude sneaks out one night only to encounter a security crackdown on students and dissenters. Although she makes it home safely, her consciousness continues to deteriorate as she fluctuates in and out of rationality. Only when Jude steals a friend's car and drives into the countryside does the true seriousness of her condition become apparent to her family. Then the long road to recovery begins.
The violence of our parting flays the skin from my body, shredding muscle and splintering bone. But the worst is that my shattered vessel can no longer hold the rhythm and order of that lovely deep music. I feel it leave me, leaking away, drop by drop, until all that is left is emptiness that jerks, hardens, and blazes into pain.
I open my eyes. I am lying in the street, my cheek held fast by the grit of asphalt, support for which I am grateful. Lexy is there, and Merry, but no order, no sense.
Sirens. Jostling. Pain like a knife at my heart. —FROM THE BOOK
Synopsis
A brilliant young woman's fight against a debilitating psychological illness is set against the historical events of the Prague Spring and the anti-Soviet struggles in Czechoslovakia. When Jude's mother gets a fellowship to go to Prague to study, Jude's world is thrown into chaos. The teenage girl feels threatened and isolated. It turns out her whole family is going, but still Jude feels adrift. When she arrives in Prague and discovers that their life in the embassy compound is closely circumscribed by rules and regulations and that they are closely watched at all times, she begins to suffer even more. Desperate to break out of the constraints imposed on her and her family, Jude sneaks out one night only to encounter a security crackdown on students and dissenters. Although she makes it home safely, her consciousness continues to deteriorate as she fluctuates in and out of rationality. Only when Jude steals a friend's car and drives into the countryside does the true seriousness of her condition become apparent to her family. Then the long road to recovery begins.Editorials
Elizabeth Ward
[Jude's] a canny and poetic observer, but because we're limited to her viewpoint, the fog is pretty thick before it dawns on us that this is no portrait of a spoiled, "stupid American teenager," but a remarkable inside account of a mental illness unfolding. Oh, and the setting isn't just Prague. It's Prague 1989, the year of the Velvet Revolution. Heuston's interweaving of these big themes is moving and often funny, and she rarely jabs you to think this or feel that. You could give The Book of Jude to any adult, young or otherwise.—The Washington Post
Rachael Gatewood
The reader follows Jude through her attempts to cope when she reluctantly moves with her family to Czechoslovakia. Judith Grace Wheelock is a 15-year-old girl who goes by the name of Jude. Her Mormon family moves to Czechoslovakia unexpectedly when her mother receives a Fulbright scholarship to study there. Jude is upset by this drastic change and cannot seem to understand why her mother, father, twin sister, and younger sister seem to adjust to their new lives so well. Jude's incapability to cope with the move leads her into a series of uncontrollable episodes that culminate with her stealing and wrecking the family car. This lands her in a psychiatric hospital where she learns she has Borderline Personality Disorder, which means she does not react well to trying times because she is unable to draw support from her past fond memories. She finds hope in the comfort of a loving family, a secure belief system, and wise old friends. Reviewer: Rachael GatewoodChildren's Literature -
Jude is a teenager whose parents are moving to Prague for one year in order to teach and conduct research. For Jude, this move is traumatic as it uproots her from nearly everything she is familiar with. Although Jude will be with her two sisters and her parents, she leaves behind her school, friends and a way of life that was predictable. While such a series of changes would be difficult for most teenagers, it is particularly taxing for Jude because she is not a stable person. Dogged by nightmares, a lack of focus and deep fears, Jude discovers almost too late that she suffers from a mental illness. In Prague, a city controlled by the forces of dictatorship, Jude suffers a breakdown. In her attempts to recover she discovers what her deepest secrets are and begins the process of healing. The Book of Jude is Kimberley Heuston's third novel but, although it has great potential, it really is the raw material of a story rather than a fully constructed tale. Characters in this book, inclusive of the leading figure, remain distant and ill defined. The issue of mental illness in the form of a borderline personality disorder is presented in a way that will do little to enlighten readers about its dimensions or the treatment of such needs. Further, the coming of the Prague Spring in 1990, which plays out in the background, is a mere stage setter that never really gets off the ground. All in all, Kimberley Heuston has taken several potential plot lines and mashed them together without creating any cohesive strand that readers can follow. The end result is a book filled with missed opportunities and a story that seems to lead nowhere. Reviewer: Greg M. RomaneckSchool Library Journal
Gr 8 Up
In 1989, 15-year-old Jude is devastated when she learns that her family will be moving to Prague for a year while her mother completes her art fellowship. Before they leave New York, she begins to act out with spells of anger, despair, and recklessness. Her arrival in Prague only magnifies these feelings as she realizes that Soviet Communist policies not only limit her freedoms, but have also wreaked misery and poverty on the people of Czechoslovakia. Angry and naive, Jude sneaks out of her house to see an anti-Soviet demonstration and is horrified by the violence she witnesses. Her uncontrolled actions begin to worry her family. Her break with reality is apparent when Jude flees to the countryside, wrecks a car, and winds up in a German hospital. Confronting her mental illness, Jude struggles to regain control of her life. The story starts off slowly as the teen leaves New York and the political and social details of Czechoslovakia are presented. While some less-savvy readers may be alienated by the historical context and setting, others will be drawn in as it becomes apparent that Jude is struggling with more than the usual teen angst. Other novels do a better job of illuminating the realities of teen mental illness; what makes this novel unique is the context in which it takes place.-Lynn Rashid, Marriots Ridge High School, Marriotsville, MD