The Cure

Carolyn Cushman

...[B]oth [the] dystopian and historical segments have a power rare in YA SF. — Locus

Julius Lester

A wonderfully imaginative evocation of the historical past and a possible future.

Donna Jo Napoli

Sonia Levitin crafts a comprehensible history of treachery and ignorance that inexorably lead where they will. She allows no excuse for hate.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Levitin (The Singing Mountain) handily combines futuristic science fiction and late-medieval Jewish history in a story reminiscent of Lois Lowry's The Giver. In the year 2407, societal tranquillity is maintained by ample servings of serotonin drinks to the genetically engineered population and by careful monitoring to suppress all expressions of individuality or creativity. When the boy Gemm 16884 somehow feels moved to make music, an extinguished art, he is given a choice between being "recycled" (killed) or sent into virtual reality to experience the bad old days as a cure for his deviant desires. Opting for the latter, he finds himself living as Johannes, the 16-year-old son of a Jewish moneylender in 1348 Strasbourg. In steadily more harrowing chapters, Levitin shows a thickening climate of anti-Semitism. As the bubonic plague spreads from the ports of Sicily across Europe, the Jews are accused of poisoning the water supply; whole communities of Jews are massacred. Will Gemm's experience as Johannes deaden his craving for art? That everything about the plot seems inevitable, from Johannes's dreadful martyrdom to Gemm's last-page embrace of humanism, only magnifies the tension: much of the horror of Johannes's plight, for example, comes from the audience's superior awareness of Johannes's certain doom. The author pulls off a nifty feat--she makes a low point in human history the prelude to a crescendo of idealism. Ages 10-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

VOYA - Beth Karpas

In the future, society's anthem is "Conformity begets Harmony begets Tranquillity begets Peace begets Universal Good." Daily doses of serotonin help maintain a passive acceptance of a world without love, philosophy, music, or even different faces. Gemm 16884 has the misfortune to hear rhythm in everything, and this difference becomes dangerous as he matures. He has two choices, "recycle" himself for the good of the community, or undergo the "cure." Gemm chooses the latter and finds himself transported to fourteenth-century Germany, as the son of a Jewish moneylender, in a world where the differences of the individual are all that count. If this had only been a historical novel, it would have been a bit predictable but still a good story with intriguing characters. If the original science fiction promise had been fulfilled, it would have been an original blend of two popular genres and highly recommended. Unfortunately, while Levitin fulfills fans' expectations with believable characters and descriptions of both past and future worlds, she does not successfully merge those worlds. If Gemm is cured, as the physical upon his return to the future implies, then his consequent attempts to change that future are inexplicable. So is his friends' ready acceptance of music when they adamantly opposed it before. One feels Levitin got tired after she finished the historic chapters, and added the final future chapter only because the beginning of the book made it obligatory. VOYA Codes: 2Q 3P M J (Better editing or work by the author might have warranted a 3Q, Will appeal with pushing, Middle School-defined as grades 6 to 8 and Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9).

Children's Literature - Rebecca Joseph

In a story with reminscent strands of Lois Lowry's The Giver and Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic, sixteen-year-old Gemm 16884 is branded as deviant, different, and dangerous in his utopian community in the year 2407. His strong emotions and love of music threaten his community's conformity, harmony, and tranquility. To prevent from being "recycled," Gemm accepts the alternative, a cure in which he is sent back to 1348 Strasbourg, Austria. Without memories of his other life, Gemm is now Johannes, the musically talented son of a Jewish moneylender. Johannes and his family must confront the growing hostility and rage of community members against Jews as the Black Plague approaches. The pain experienced in Strasbourg has tremendous ramifications for Gemm and his decision to accept or not accept conforming to his community's restrictive rules. The novel's power rests in the riveting details of the hardships and tragedies that befell 14th century European Jews.

KLIATT

To quote KLIATT's July 1999 review of the hardcover edition: In the year 2407, conformity is the law in the utopia in which sixteen-year-old Gemm resides. Gemm is not the same as everyone else, however; he has an overwhelming urge to make music, and this is unacceptable. He is offered a harsh cure that involves being sent back to an era when music is associated with overwhelming sorrow—the year 1348, in Strasbourg, Germany, as the Black Plague is spreading across Europe. Gemm is now Johannes, a sixteen-year-old Jewish boy who loves to play the flute. . The Jews are treated like dirt in the town, and forced to pay heavy taxes. Nevertheless, Johannes is happy enough, in love with the girl next door and surrounded by a warm family. But when the Black Plague draws closer and Jews are blamed for its spread, Johannes realizes that the simmering anti-Semitism in his town will come to a boil. The Jews of Strasbourg are rounded up and burned to death on a scaffold, as musicians play dancing tunes—a historical fact, as Levitin points out in an epilogue. In this thought-provoking novel, Levitin questions whether diversity must always be accompanied by hate. The beginning and ending, set in the future, may remind readers of The Giver, posing similar problems of a society that suppresses history and emotion. . The historical segment is the most affecting, drawing a portrait of a community destroyed by irrational hatred, and we are drawn into Johannes's world and suffer along with him as he tells his story. This would be an interesting companion to studies of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, andadults. 1999, HarperTrophy, 262p, bibliog, 18cm, 98-33907, $4.95. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Paula Rohrlick; September 2000 (Vol. 34 No. 5)

The ALAN Review - Lisa K. Winkler

It's the Year of Tranquility 2407 in the United Social Alliance, Western Sector. Gemm 16884 dreams of music and places where people looked different and didn't wear colored masks. He confides in his twin, Gemma 16884, who urges him to stifle these dangerous thoughts. They're about to make the Great Choice C select their jobs C and she fears they'll be recycled if his dreams continue. Yet the Elders are monitoring Gemm and suggest he submit to "the Cure," a chance to rid himself of impure memory flashes. He's sent to Strasbourg, Germany, 1348. He becomes 16-year-old Johannes, the son of a money lender, and a Jew. Though the Jewish community faces daily prejudice and injustices, they manage to maintain their businesses and practice their religion. When rumors spread that a mysterious disease is killing people in surrounding areas, residents quickly begin blaming the Jews. Eventually, the Jews are forced from their homes and burned in public. Johannes leads the Jews in singing as they await their deaths. He wakes up in the future, yet remains uncured. He remembers history and music and resolves to teach others. Based on a true incident, Levitin weaves a chilling story linking two worlds. Pair this provocative novel with Lois Lowry's The Giver for intriguing discussions.

School Library Journal

Gr 7-10-Johannes is the 16-year-old son of a moneylender in Strasbourg in 1348. He loves his family, his music, and the butcher's daughter. However, it is difficult to be a Jew in Europe, for discrimination is rampant. Now people are talking of a terrible pestilence that strikes men down, turns them black, and knows no cure but death. As the plague sweeps Europe, it is the Jews who are blamed for poisoning the waters and spreading the disease. Johannes's tragic story is also the story of Gemm 16884, a 16-year-old living in the United Social Alliance, a futuristic society in which "Conformity begets Harmony begets Tranquillity begets Peace begets Universal Good." But Gemm has been having strange dreams and hearing music, strictly forbidden. The Elders believe that transporting Gemm to Strasbourg to suffer the horrors that Johannes endured will cure his love of music forever. But the cure itself is so misguided that it actually backfires, causing Gemm to return with renewed passion and the conviction to change his world. Readers will be fascinated with Gemm's world, where people wear colored silk masks to represent conformity, everybody has a twin, and sex as we know it is a thing of the past. However, the music metaphor does not ring true, and the dissonance of the two worlds is often more disruptive than provocative.-Barbara Auerbach, Brooklyn Public Library, NY Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Michelle West

...Levitin acknowledges what must be acknowledged: that humanity is both profoundly ugly and profoundly beautiful, and we cannot have one without the other, although the struggle to do so is important.
— Fantasy & Science Fiction

Carolyn Cushman

...[B]oth [the] dystopian and historical segments have a power rare in YA SF.
— Locus

S. Kay Elmore

The Cure, is a stunning follow up to her many Jewish-themed YA titles, including Escape from Egypt and The Return... The strength of this novel is Ms. Levitin's great skill in creating real and living characters.You cannot read this book without becoming entranced by them, and pulled along by their story until the very end...Despite the enjoyability of the historical section, the part that tried to cross over into the SF genre bothered me. While the story itself is a very good read, the stilted society of the future was too heavily borrowed from Huxley's Brave New World.
— SF Site

Kirkus Reviews

Juxtaposing the past and the future, this potent story explores the societal consequences of diversity and individuality. It's 2407 and the almost 16-year-old Gemm 16884 lives in a serene Orwellian society where the denizens are trained to believe that "diversity begets hostility," and that psychological troubles can be banished by sipping on a serotonin shake. But Gemm is not like his kinsmen; he's afflicted with ungovernable emotions and a "deviant" passion for music. To avoid being "recycled," he agrees to undergo a frightening cure, a mind-adventure that will make the association of music and the emotions it engenders unbearable. He wakes up in 1348 Strasbourg, Germany, where he's known as Johannes the Jew. Unlike the fairly standard rendering of the future, this part of the story, opening just as the Black Death begins to sweep through the population, fairly pulsates with energy and freshness; it is based on a real event and packed with spine-tingling historical detail. Johannes has to cope with virulent anti-Semitism in a society that is anything but tranquil. Levitin (Yesterday's Child, 1997, etc.) cheats a little to give the future world an upbeat ending, but even so pulls off an unusual mix of science and historical fiction that is as suspenseful and as it is unsettling. (bibliography) (Fiction. 10-14)

From the Publisher

“I was profoundly moved to discover that a historical incident from long ago had such strong parallels in our own times, in my own life....That is why I felt I must write this book.”—Sonia Levitin