The Game

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Commencing on February 11 and concluding on June 5, The Game tells the
story of 15-year-old Danielle (Dani) Webster, who, following her second
alcohol/drug overdose, has been committed to New York State’s
Riverwood Youth Clinic for adolescents with emotional disorders. Via
dated entries, flashbacks, copies of letters, and transcriptions of
Dani’s one-on-one therapy sessions, Toten gradually reveals what has
happened in Dani’s family life that has led to Dani’s being a
patient at Riverwood. Though The Game initially appears to be an
adolescent-problem novel, it possesses many elements of a good mystery,
including the author’s clever use of misdirection. The title refers to
the outdoor fantasy game Dani created with her younger sister, Kelly, a
game in which the two girls attempted to free the goddess Saraya from
the evil Yuras. Readers are initially led to believe that the game’s
characters represent the girls’ parents, with their mother appearing
to be entirely under the control of her manipulative and physically
violent husband.

Dani, as the older sibling, has assumed the responsibility for
protecting her little sister from their father’s sudden violence,
especially since their mother cannot or will not. And, as in all good
mysteries, the solution—that is, the real reason for Dani’s attempts
at self-destruction—is revealed near the book’s conclusion.
Toten’s strong cast of secondary characters includes Alison (Dani’s
roommate), “Scratch” Mackenzie (a sexually abused self-mutilator),
and Kevin Faulkner (who attempted suicide following his parents’
denial of his homosexuality). A “true” young-adult novel, The Game
will find its most appreciative audience among older teems. Highly
recommended.