Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Killers-Cousin/Nancy-Werlin/e/9780142413739/?itm=1&USRI=the+killer%27s+cousin, accessed October 10, 2009.Bibliography:
Werlin, Nancy. 1998. THE KILLER'S COUSIN. New York: The Penguin Group.
ISBN 9780142413739
Critical Analysis:
Set in Cambridge, Massachusetts, THE KILLER'S COUSIN tells the story of David Yaffe, a seventeen-year-old from Baltimore, who was recently aquitted of killing his girlfriend, Emily. His uncle has agreed to take him in, which will allow David to repeat his senior year at a private Catholic School nearby. When the story begins, you are not told the specifics of how Emily died, or any of the other details of David's affluent family, what you are told is that the story is about Lily.
When David arrives at his uncle's house, he finds a family on the edge of collapse. His Uncle Vic and Aunt Julia's oldest daughter Kathy, died four years earlier, and her death seems to have destroyed the lives of not only his aunt and uncle, but also his eleven-year-old cousin, Lily. Lily was seven at the time of her sister's death, and seems to be mentally unstable at best. She displays odd behavior and David finds himself unnerved by her actions. When he finds Liliy going through a box of his things and asks her to leave, Lily replies "Tell me something," she said, as if casually. "How did you feel when she went down?"......"Tell me. Did you feel.....powerful? Were you glad? Even....just for a minute?" After this alarming encounter, David starts school, begins filling out college applications and even manages to make a friend, all the while knowing that something is terribly wrong with Lily. He tries talking to his aunt and uncle, but is met with denial that there is a problem with Lily. David wakes up many nights hearing a humming noise in his small apartment. At first he thinks that it is Emily, trying to talk to him in some way, but he soon realizes that it is Kathy. Over time, the humming intensifies and he begins to see the fuzzy outline of a person. It is then that he begins to understand that Kathy is trying to tell him to help Lily. As David learns more about Kathy and her death, he is convinced that Lily is responsible.
The author's vivid descriptions of Harvard Square, row houses, and the Brattle theater give readers a glimple of what Cambridge is actually like and the climactic ending will allow them to learn the whole truth about David and Lily and the secrets that they keep.
Winner of the Edgar Award
Review Excerpts:
PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY: "Many secrets bubble just beneath the surface of this skillful thriller narrated by a high-school senior who has been accused--and acquitted--of murdering his girlfriend," said PW in a starred review. Ages 14-up.
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "David Yaffe, 18, having recently been acquitted of murdering his girlfriend, is sent to live in Cambridge, MA, with his aunt Julia, uncle Vic, and cousin Lily to repeat his senior year of high school. Lily, 11, is resentful of his presence; she feels that her dead sister Kathy's room is rightfully hers, and that he should not be staying in it. Lily taunts and torments David until he begins to doubt his own sanity. His emotional fragility is compellingly revealed as he works through the loss of his girlfriend and the complicity he feels over her death."
Classroom Connections/Discussion Questions:
1. At the end of the story Lily tells David that she killed her sister. Do you think she really killed her or she just thinks she did? Does she deserve to be punished if she did?
2. Do you think that Kathy's was in David's mind or do you think she really appears to him as a ghost?
3. Did you feel differently about the title of the book once you had read it?
4. When did you first suspect that Lily had something to do with her sister's death?
5. After the fire, David says that saving Lily had somehow given him hope that he would find ways to atone in the future. Do you think David will ever forgive himself?
6. The author skillfully resolves many of the puzzles but leaves a few questions. What are some of these? How do you feel about what she accomplished by doing this?
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