Teen’s tale bolsters mystery ‘End Over End’ thrilling

END OVER END by Kate Kennedy, Soho Press, New York, 2001, 320 pages, $24.

It’s not the typical mystery that Cape Elizabeth author Kate Kennedy will see published this month. “End Over End” is not a blow-by-blow account of a murder, nor is it a detailed description of law enforcement’s attempt to solve a violent crime. This remarkable and very original novel, rather, is a taste of all these things, but with volumes more depth.

From the beginning, Kennedy’s work doesn’t rely on the heavy-handed crafting of suspense a reader may be accustomed to in a whodunit. Instead, the author relies on poetic fragments of image and thought to construct the painfully realistic world of an impoverished New England community.

The tale of Ivory Towle, a rebellious teen, is told in a way that seems to reflect the character’s very spirit. Ivory is a junior high school pupil who spends her days in a haze of dissatisfaction and dreams, seeking love and acceptance from her delinquent boyfriend, Blake, whom her parents forbid her to see. Kennedy unflinchingly depicts Ivory’s too-soon sexuality, her use of marijuana and self-mutilation as a means to dull her reality, and the web of unhappiness around her that is an almost too-accurate portrayal of teen angst in a small town where possibility seems impossible.

Kennedy relies on many characters for points of view. The reader hears the voice of Ivory herself, along with those of many of her troubled classmates, her boyfriend, local law enforcement and a news reporter, among others. In short chapters used as a means to switch points of view, the reader gains an understanding of Ivory’s hometown, not through the portrayal of streets and buildings but from glimpses into the hearts of those who pass through.

That portrayal comes through use of stream-of-consciousness, the reconstruction of dreams and fantasies, and thoughts that read like verse. Kennedy draws images from adolescence so effectively, readers cannot help but be drawn back into their own past, similar to what good poetry may accomplish. When Ivory is in the middle of a pregnancy “scare,” as her friends refer to it, she recalls her sex education teacher: “Lady teachers stick lilacs on their desks at school. Mrs. Cadenza has some. Mrs. Cadenza sounds like a magazine, always talking about yourself, yourself. About doing things, changing things. Ivory’s tired. It makes you tired, holding a future in your own two hands.” This sort of innocent hopelessness, thoughts meandering through what has been taught and what has been felt, creates a tragic beauty that makes this novel engrossing.

Kennedy goes to great lengths to portray Ivory, from her own descriptions of her life to the impact she has on others, giving the reader a stake in Ivory’s fate. In one of the novel’s most poignant moments, one of Ivory’s friends imagines her as a horse in the midst of a memory, as if she had become the creature the girls had pretended to be as imaginative youths: “One time, Ivory’d climbed the tallest pine tree back of her house, then jumped into a leaf pile they’d spent all afternoon mounding up – like she was some champion stunt-horse flying off a ladder into a glass of water – and she’s sprained her ankle. … Ivory flared her nostrils, she turned the whites of her eyes crazy – wild the way horses trapped in fires do, she snapped her hair like a real mane so it rippled when she jumped. And overnight, her ankle healed.”

The mingling of magic and the mundane makes Kennedy’s adolescent world ring with accuracy. As the teens struggle between childhood and the challenges of adulthood, this balance feels essential.

The author’s innovative approach, full of emotion and rhythm, proves she has a voice worth listening to. “End Over End” feels like a quick read, because of the short chapters, the enjoyable flow of words, and the compelling story of a death’s effect on a small town. By reading the painful fragments that spell out the ways a murder hurts so many people, one cannot help but be drawn into the emotions and conflicts Kennedy unveils.