The Cellar

by Natasha Preston

Reviewed by Aaron Jew

Fall 2016

REVIEW: The Cellar by Natasha Preston

ISBN#: 1492600970

THE STORY:

Summer Robinson, a teenage girl, lives with her mother, father, and her younger brother named Henry. Her boyfriend, Lewis, comes over to Summer’s house often and they like to go to parties. However, one night, Lewis and Summer leave to go to a party at Summer’s friend's house. When they arrive at the house, Summer decides to go look for something and chooses to check the woods. All of a sudden, a big, tall man, later to

be known as Clover, walks behind her and asks if Summer’s name was Lily. She says no, but her answer did not matter as Clover carries her to his white van, threatening to kill her if she said a word. Summer tries to persuade Clover, but it is no use. The van pulls up at Clover’s house and they leave the vehicle. Clover introduces Summer to the other three girls, named Rose, Violet, and Poppy. Clover explains how he likes everything to be neat and tidy which is also the reason he renames the girls into the names of flowers. He makes the other three girls explain to Summer that there is no escaping once you get captured. They also explain that Clover is making their lives better because they were homeless teenagers that did not have a home. After countless murders, Summer, or now known as Lily, makes a tough decision to take the fact that she will never escape. With Clover always locking the cellar door every time he leaves, the chances of escape are very slim. (256)

MY OPINION:

After hours of looking for the perfect book to do this project on, I was exasperated after I found nothing. However, I found this book called The Cellar. While I read the synopsis of the book, I thought it was a very cliche kidnap story, but that was not the case. There are many twists in the story that are no ordinary things someone would find in a book. If I were to give this to a friend, I would tell him to watch out for some of the words in the book because there are some words that are spelt differently in Britain than in the United States. I would also recommend this story only to kids that are thirteen and up because there are some inappropriate words and scenes in the story that little children wouldn’t understand. The author developed the characters very well because you can clearly see the change of perspective from each character’s point of view from different time zones of the book.The variety of sentence structure made the book sound intriguing. I would definitely rate this book nine out of ten because of the inability of younger kids to understand the story, but other than that, I would read this again anytime I get another opportunity. (213)

STUDY QUESTIONS AND VOCABULARY:

FIRST SECTION

1. Why does the mysterious man, named Clover, rename all the kidnapped girls to the names of flowers?

1a. Clover renames all the girls to a flower because he likes everything to be pure and clean, like flowers. (pg. 16)

2. What does Clover mean when he says he doesn’t want the flowers he gave to Lily to die?

2a.When Clover says he doesn’t want . (pg. 47)

3. What was Clover and Rose doing in the foreign room?

3a. Clover was making love with Rose in the foreign room. (pg. 65)

4. How did the death of Violet ?

4a. It affected her by making her emotionally tired and she wants to escape again. (pg. 103)

5. When the girls were asked to put their clothes in a black bag, why didn’t Summer have any clothes to put in the bag?

5a. Summer didn’t have any clothes to put in the bag because she was using Violet’s clothes and Violet was murdered by Clover so Clover had given Summer one pair of clothes and donated the rest. (pg. 123)

apologetically (pg. 14)

curfew (pg. 41)

conjured (pg. 60)

tampered (pg. 88)

endearing (pg. 114)

MIDDLE SECTION

6. How did Clover manage to get the first four girls to come with him in the first place?

6a. He asked the girls what they needed or wanted. Sometimes, they asked for a ride to a place or some food and if they did, he would drive them to his house and kidnap them instead.          (pg. 140)

7. How did Poppy end up with Clover?

7a. Poppy ended up with Clover when Poppy left her house because she drank too much alcohol. Also, her family didn’t like it and shortly after that, she was with Clover. (pg. 145)

8. Why did Clover kidnap Rose even though he would never have her trust?

8a. Clover kidnapped Rose because he wanted her to be his wife. He didn’t want to put her in the cellar in the first place. However, she didn’t want to be with Clover so the only option Clover had was to kidnap her. (pg. 166)

9. What was the result of the new kidnapped Violet calling Summer by her real name?

9a. The result of Violet calling Lily by her real name caused Clover to beat her up. (pg. 193)

10. Why does Clover always murder economically unfriendly people?

10a. Clover kills economically unfriendly people because his father fell victim to one so he wants to get rid of them as much as possible. (pg. 202)

tentatively (pg. 186)

incoherently (pg. 199)

derelict (pg. 204)

cordoned (pg. 220)

aliment (pg. 241)                                

LAST SECTION

11. Was Clover put in Lewis’s search party on purpose?

11a. Yes, he was placed in Lewis’s search group on purpose because Clover’s suspicious actions made Lewis suspect him the kidnapper. (pg. 269)

12. How did Lewis suspect Clover as the kidnapper?

12a. He had an idea that it was Clover because he was acting suspiciously when he arrived at his house, and he acted like he was trying to hide something. (pg. 287)

13. Why does Clover feel extremely nervous when around Lewis or Summer?

13a. Clover feels extremely nervous because he has a feeling Lewis knows something about his secrets. (pg. 290)

14. Why did Summer not recognize her family's voice?

14a. She was so used to living with Clover and the other girls, she doesn't remember her family. (pg. 326)

15. Why did Summer go back to the same part of the woods where Clover kidnapped her even though she has bad memories at the park?

15a. She goes back to the park with Lewis because she knows she is safe from danger with him and Clover is locked up in a psychiatric unit. (pg. 338)

bemused (pg. 275)

fickle (pg. 288)

immaculate (pg. 298)

clinical (pg. 321)

rave (pg. 340)