new lows.

[yamakasi]

anyone know any novels where a character deals with illness/cancer/death by using imagination to escape from reality? preferably young adult fiction and/or fantasy elements.

/asking LJ for help with homework

thanks!

Comments

[glittersnipe]

i'm a bit fuzzy, but i think the never ending story has the kid retreating into fantasy from something scary, though i can't remember whether it fits your criteria exactly.

jacqueline wilson's children's novel lola rose has the kid fantasing about being famous because of her shitty home-life (the father's an alcoholic, as far as i remember, but i read it when i was about twelve so i can't remember). one of her other books, tracy beaker is sort of similar, where the kid is in an institutionalised home and makes up stories because of her life being sort of rubbish.

also, in gravity's rainbow one of the characters, tyrone slothrop, has a breakdown during wwii and creates a fictional persona called rocketman and basically lives in fantasyland for a bit of the novel.

there's a relatively obscure irish novel called a goat's song by dermot healy (which is worth picking up if you've any free time, it's a really great book) whose primary character is narrating the novel as an imaginative exercise to deal with his alcoholism. at one point he has a nervous breakdown and is hospitalised and spends his time in the hospital asking people to narrate their stories to him. there's also a section where one of the characters, an ex-RUC man, is dying in hospital and before he dies he falls into a kind of delirium and his dreams are all about irish myths. he spends his last conscious days asking his family to read mythology to him as well. this is an adult's book though.

josef kavalier from the amazing adventures of kavalier and clay by michael chabon draws comic books and creates elaborate little stories because he's the only member of his family to escape from poland during wwii.

i don't know if any of these are any good to you, because i wasn't ever really into fantasy/young adult novels (my mother had them banned from the house and made me read things like war and peace when i was fourteen, with the result that i used to go over to friend's houses and read cosmo illicitly) but i hope they help!

[yamakasi]

thanks for all of these, i'll check them out :D the young adult/fantasy stuff was a maybe, i can make it work without it.

[yamakasi]

i ended up using the neverending story (in part!). so thanks~

[glittersnipe]

no problem!