Candlechair
New Member
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- Nov 30, 2018
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I read a book in 2015/16 but i think it was published anytime after year 2000.
Plot: the book is in first person from the point of view of the boy. It starts off telling about how he remembers his mum downing herself in a lake (they may have mentioned her wearing a red coat; that image keeps coming in my head) when he was younger and it also describes what she was like and what their life was like. Also the boy has a abusive father who is also an alcoholic.
Then the book jumps to present time, where the father is occasionally still abusive and is still a alcoholic. The boy goes to a normal state school; I'm not sure if he has friends but I think he does know/speak to some people.
He notices that there are some people that are lurking around his garden and his house, he feels they are following him and comments that they have sad eyes. These people continue to lurk but don't really approach him and are somewhat evasive.
He soon starts having visions in his dreams where he might be seeing a event taking place in the past and i think they were usually negative. At first he didn't know these were real events but later i think after some lessons in school he realised they were factual.
He later confides in a girl who lives opposite them and used to be a childhood friend. They had some secret signalling thing which he uses and she recognises it. At first she's skeptical but later she accepts that he can see the past. I think she also tries to help him control the thoughts so that he doesn't do the bad thing (like inflicting pain on someone in the past). (as im writing im doubting this last bit so im not too sure).
Eventually, i think after he runs to a park for some reason, one of the sad eyed people approach him and tell him he belongs to a group of people who either receive or inflict pain. So his job was to inflict pain on people and the sad eyed people received pain and wouldn't fight back.
At some point in the book he gets a vision of some sort of a mass killing situation where a whole bunch of people including children are trapped somewhere or are hiding. I think they are found and given orders by (I think) soldiers (who are bad) and I think they have lack of water. At some point someone or many people is/are killed and at there's one of the bad guys who say something like I don't want to do this anymore. This is meant to be him and apparently after that event he sort of went missing and im guessing came back in the form if the boy and had his memories suppressed.
A side story was in the school younger boy was bullied and beaten for his dinner money. When the lead boy gives advice he acts a bit odd. So it turns out that the bully was the main boy but he didn't notice or blanked out.
Similarly, he has an argument with his dad and gets angry and leaves the room when he returns he finds his dad on the floor who is awkward when offered help. Later he realises that it was actually him who attacked his dad.
Realising that he hasn't actually escaped he encourages the sad eyed people to fight back and that he should try to control himself. I think at some point he knowingly insults the bullied boy, who later when he tries to bully him again now; aware of his actions; attacks him first and fights back so he was prevented.
Somehow the police get involved and also he he suspects his father of murdering his mother. With the help of the police he tricks his father into confessing that she accidentally fell in the lake and couldn't swim and he didn't help.
That's all I remember, sorry I realise that was quite long.
Also im not sure but I think it had a title like "The - - - -", some that it isnt are the giver, receiver by joan howards
The follower is stuck in my mind.. Its not the cult story that exists though.
I think the title had religious connotations.
Thats all I can think of, I hope someone finds the book. Its really been bugging me.
Sorry this took long and thanks
Plot: the book is in first person from the point of view of the boy. It starts off telling about how he remembers his mum downing herself in a lake (they may have mentioned her wearing a red coat; that image keeps coming in my head) when he was younger and it also describes what she was like and what their life was like. Also the boy has a abusive father who is also an alcoholic.
Then the book jumps to present time, where the father is occasionally still abusive and is still a alcoholic. The boy goes to a normal state school; I'm not sure if he has friends but I think he does know/speak to some people.
He notices that there are some people that are lurking around his garden and his house, he feels they are following him and comments that they have sad eyes. These people continue to lurk but don't really approach him and are somewhat evasive.
He soon starts having visions in his dreams where he might be seeing a event taking place in the past and i think they were usually negative. At first he didn't know these were real events but later i think after some lessons in school he realised they were factual.
He later confides in a girl who lives opposite them and used to be a childhood friend. They had some secret signalling thing which he uses and she recognises it. At first she's skeptical but later she accepts that he can see the past. I think she also tries to help him control the thoughts so that he doesn't do the bad thing (like inflicting pain on someone in the past). (as im writing im doubting this last bit so im not too sure).
Eventually, i think after he runs to a park for some reason, one of the sad eyed people approach him and tell him he belongs to a group of people who either receive or inflict pain. So his job was to inflict pain on people and the sad eyed people received pain and wouldn't fight back.
At some point in the book he gets a vision of some sort of a mass killing situation where a whole bunch of people including children are trapped somewhere or are hiding. I think they are found and given orders by (I think) soldiers (who are bad) and I think they have lack of water. At some point someone or many people is/are killed and at there's one of the bad guys who say something like I don't want to do this anymore. This is meant to be him and apparently after that event he sort of went missing and im guessing came back in the form if the boy and had his memories suppressed.
A side story was in the school younger boy was bullied and beaten for his dinner money. When the lead boy gives advice he acts a bit odd. So it turns out that the bully was the main boy but he didn't notice or blanked out.
Similarly, he has an argument with his dad and gets angry and leaves the room when he returns he finds his dad on the floor who is awkward when offered help. Later he realises that it was actually him who attacked his dad.
Realising that he hasn't actually escaped he encourages the sad eyed people to fight back and that he should try to control himself. I think at some point he knowingly insults the bullied boy, who later when he tries to bully him again now; aware of his actions; attacks him first and fights back so he was prevented.
Somehow the police get involved and also he he suspects his father of murdering his mother. With the help of the police he tricks his father into confessing that she accidentally fell in the lake and couldn't swim and he didn't help.
That's all I remember, sorry I realise that was quite long.
Also im not sure but I think it had a title like "The - - - -", some that it isnt are the giver, receiver by joan howards
The follower is stuck in my mind.. Its not the cult story that exists though.
I think the title had religious connotations.
Thats all I can think of, I hope someone finds the book. Its really been bugging me.
Sorry this took long and thanks
