The Boy Who Could See Demons

 

The Boy Who Could See Demons is the title of the second novel by Northern Ireland writer Carolyn Jess-Cooke. I finished this book in one and a half day flat. Most of the time I am a slow reader. I will read a book quarter through, then I would pick another and start reading a few pages of it. Then I would go back to the first book to continue and I start from the beginning again because I thought I have forgotten some of what I have read before. When I read I like to savour the storyline, the poignant sentences, the beautiful phrases used by the writer. I would use a pen or a highlighter to mark the phrases I love or the characters of the book or the significant parts. However, with this book, even with all the highlighting and marking everywhere, I finished the book in one and a half days. I always find books written from the perspectives of children very very compelling. A very good example would be ten-year old Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, the narrator and protagonist in Harper Lee's famous book To Kill A Mocking Bird.

In The Boy Who Could See Demons, Alex Broccoli is a polite, quiet, intelligent ten-year old boy who lived with his mother Cindy in a dilapidated council housing in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Alex is also a gifted artist and superb performer on the stage. There are many challenges in little Alex's life. His father is not around. At the beginning of the book Alex believed his father is dead. His mother Cindy is very unstable and has attempted suicide four times before. Alex was the one who found her and was one who went for help in each of her suicide attempt. On top of all these situations Alex is suffering from early onset schizophrenia or childhood schizophrenia.  Among the symptoms of schizophrenia in children are severe confusion between fantasy and reality, extreme moodiness, violence, mental disturbances, paranoia and unusual perceptual experience. Alex says he can see demons and he himself has a demon named Ruen. He began to see Ruen on the day his mother told him his dad had died. Because of the hallucinations, strange behaviours  like talking to no one and seeing things that aren't there and sometimes tantrums,  Alex has no friend at all in school. Those of us who faced tough challenges on growing up like poverty, neglect, violence, dysfunctional families, single parent home and mental illnesses, would easily identify themselves in Alex. I definitely do.

Dr. Anya Molokova is a child psychiatrist who had just returned to Belfast after working for quite sometime in Edinburgh, Scotland and is in-charge of Alex case when Cindy attempted suicide for the fifth time. Anya is too familiar with schizophrenia because her mother had it and later on her daughter Poppy also had it. Poppy died when she was twelve, throwing herself down from the window of their apartment in Scotland. Anya is very much traumatised by Poppy's death that she was even scared of having any relationship with any man. She becomes very concern that Alex was not properly treated and she was quite adamant about booking Alex into the MacNiece House so that he can be properly evaluated and treated. Anya was worried that Cindy's self- harming episodes had impacted on Alex and Alex might do something to himself.

Michael Jones who is Alex's social worker was rather sceptical about Anya's method of treatment as he firmly believes separating Alex and his mum is bad for both of them.

I was half through the book but I was still unsure whether Ruen is a real demon or it just some manifestation of Alex's thoughts and perceptions as a result of the early onset schizophrenia. Even Anya wasn't sure until the last moment when Alex poured powdered nuts into Anya's espresso causing her to go into anaphylactic shock because she was dangerously allergic to nuts. As written in the book, Ruen the demon is the embodiment of conflict in Alex, a personification of him processing what it means to be a murderer's son. When he was about five Alex witnessed his father, an IRA dissident faction member, shot dead two policemen. It was after that incident that he began to see Ruen.

The story has a happy ending, even though Cindy died when her sixth suicide attempt was successful. Alex was adopted by his Auntie Bev, Cindy's adopted sister who cares deeply about him. Ruen slowly disappeared from Alex's life and he begins to have friends in his life.