Readers feel the story more intensely because they are not only experiencing the story as a reader, but also as a five year old girl, which was Emmy’s age at the time of these events. And then again, by giving this to you to read sometime in the future.”īy writing in the form of a letter, Werlin has made the story more personal. It means I will have decided to tell you-decided twice. It is written in first person and in the form of a letter from Matthew to his youngest sister, Emmy: “But if you are reading this letter, that means you are about to find out everything I know. The Rules of Survival is a story of psychological, emotional, and physical child abuse. Matthew decides to never give what he’s written to Emmy, because this story wasn’t for her, but for him to understand what kind of person he’s become. Years later, everyone is still receiving threatening letters from her, but they no longer open them. Matthew is about to kill Nikki, when Murdoch arrives and advises her to run away and never come back to Boston. Matthew finds his sister, only to get caught by their mother. She’s thrown in jail and loses custody, but once she’s free, she kidnaps Emmy. Murdoch enlists Matthew’s aunt, estranged father, and a friend to antagonize Nikki, so that she’ll get herself in trouble and lose custody. Matthew approaches Murdoch and convinces him to help get rid of Nikki. Soon, Matthew and his sisters fear for their lives, and Murdoch’s. Nikki’s rage blossoms as she blames the break up on Murdoch and, as she spirals out of control, she begins to stalk, brutalize, and threaten him.
#The rules of survival book review free#
Matthew and Callie set out to befriend Murdoch, hoping he’ll be able to free them from their mother, but Nikki catches on and begins to date Murdoch. Matthew and Callie leave the house, and Emmy sleeping in it, to make a quick run to the Cumberland Farms store, where they meet Murdoch, who protects a kid from being abused. Then, the introductory letter ends and the chronological story begins with Nikki leaving her children home alone, while she goes out to party. He tells her that he’s writing everything down, so that one day she’ll be able to know what happened, while he, Emmy, and Callie, the middle sibling, lived with their mother. The story begins with Matthew writing to his youngest sister, Emmy, who is too young to understand all the events that occurred in their family’s past.
In The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin, Matthew Walsh is a teenage boy trying to protect his younger sisters, and himself, from their abusive mother. These are questions Matthew must face while living with his unpredictable and often violent mother, Nikki. What would you do if you knew someone was being abused? What would you do if your mother were the abuser? Would you call the police, or tell someone? Would you pretend nothing was happening? Would you stop the abuse? The Rules of Survival is one I particularly liked. Hopefully, I’ll intrigue you enough to want to give the book a try. Recently, I’ve been reading novels from the national book award list (both winners and finalists).
I thought I’d try something different today and post a book review.