Title: Who Framed Klaris Cliff?
Author: Nikki Sheehan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: February 2014
Joseph Reece lives next door to his best friend, Rocky, and Rocky’s siblings. He lives with his father, since Joseph’s mother left and has not been heard from in two years; in the interim, Joseph is visited by an imaginary friend who will not leave him alone. But imaginary friends are not considered the harmless stuff of play and games in this book. In Nikki Sheehan’s world, imaginary friends are regarded as a threat (something akin to poltergeists). Operations exist to remove these dangerous spirits from young minds and the centre of creativity in the brain is targeted, essentially ‘blipping’ children’s imagination with a laser beam. This is the threat that Joseph finds himself faced with when an imaginary friend of Rocky’s brother Flea turns ‘rogue’ and appears to him. Can Joseph evade this fate? Can he be rid of Klaris Cliff? (Or does he want to be?)
The premise of this story intrigued me from the start; it disturbed me that there was no great sign of an ideological shift in Joseph’s world but I take that as the point, that we are left faced with questions at the story’s conclusion. What is the result in this fictional world of young children continuing to be ‘operated’ on, what does the concept of a butchered imagination really mean? Joseph’s personal story and his need for closure is what matters, though, and he is a likeable hero, regarded by himself and others as ‘normal’ apart from his connection to an ‘imaginary’ Klaris. But I think my favourite character in this was Flea. I loved and pitied his meekness, his inability to be other than he is; his quiet acceptance of his bullying and sad belief that he deserved it all because, supposedly, the sins of introversion and imagination made him abnormal, according to his siblings, his peers and even his father. That in itself is a poignant message to be left with; in a world that deals with the matter-of-fact and everyday, imagination is something side-lined, a source of embarrassment that results in isolation and misunderstanding.
A very poignant and thought-provoking read.
The premise of this story intrigued me from the start; it disturbed me that there was no great sign of an ideological shift in Joseph’s world but I take that as the point, that we are left faced with questions at the story’s conclusion. What is the result in this fictional world of young children continuing to be ‘operated’ on, what does the concept of a butchered imagination really mean? Joseph’s personal story and his need for closure is what matters, though, and he is a likeable hero, regarded by himself and others as ‘normal’ apart from his connection to an ‘imaginary’ Klaris. But I think my favourite character in this was Flea. I loved and pitied his meekness, his inability to be other than he is; his quiet acceptance of his bullying and sad belief that he deserved it all because, supposedly, the sins of introversion and imagination made him abnormal, according to his siblings, his peers and even his father. That in itself is a poignant message to be left with; in a world that deals with the matter-of-fact and everyday, imagination is something side-lined, a source of embarrassment that results in isolation and misunderstanding.
A very poignant and thought-provoking read.
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