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Out of Control
It starts as an ordinary school day. Just the same as any other. Until Valerie Michon gets up and leaves the auditorium. And three boys decide to follow her.She heads for the stairs and the boys run after her. They are fast, they are quiet. They don't talk about it. They just do it. It's a game. Fun. On the third floor they catch up with her.
It happens fast, so fast. It's like a dream. She yells, and twists and turns trying to get free, but they have her...
It happens fast, so fast. It's like a dream. She yells, and twists and turns trying to get free, but they have her...
- GenresYoung AdultHigh School
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
2 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
About the author
Norma Fox Mazer
58 books104 followersNorma Fox Mazer was an American author and teacher, best known for her books for children and young adults.
She was born in New York City but grew up in Glens Falls, New York, with parents Michael and Jean Garlan Fox. Mazer graduated from Glens Falls High School, then went to Antioch College, where she met Harry Mazer, whom she married in 1950; they have four children, one of whom, Anne Mazer, is also a writer. She also studied at Syracuse University.
New York Times Book Review contributor Ruth I. Gordon wrote that Mazer "has the skill to reveal the human qualities in both ordinary and extraordinary situations as young people mature....it would be a shame to limit their reading to young people, since they can show an adult reader much about the sometimes painful rite of adolescent passage into adulthood."
Among the honors Mazer earned for her writing were a National Book Award nomination in 1973, an American Library Association Notable Book citation in 1976, inclusion on the New York Times Outstanding Books of the Year list in 1976, the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1978, an Edgar Award in 1982, German Children's Literature prizes in 1982 and 1989, and a Newbery Medal in 1988.
Mazer taught in the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children & Young Adults Program at Vermont College.
For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/norma-fo...
She was born in New York City but grew up in Glens Falls, New York, with parents Michael and Jean Garlan Fox. Mazer graduated from Glens Falls High School, then went to Antioch College, where she met Harry Mazer, whom she married in 1950; they have four children, one of whom, Anne Mazer, is also a writer. She also studied at Syracuse University.
New York Times Book Review contributor Ruth I. Gordon wrote that Mazer "has the skill to reveal the human qualities in both ordinary and extraordinary situations as young people mature....it would be a shame to limit their reading to young people, since they can show an adult reader much about the sometimes painful rite of adolescent passage into adulthood."
Among the honors Mazer earned for her writing were a National Book Award nomination in 1973, an American Library Association Notable Book citation in 1976, inclusion on the New York Times Outstanding Books of the Year list in 1976, the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1978, an Edgar Award in 1982, German Children's Literature prizes in 1982 and 1989, and a Newbery Medal in 1988.
Mazer taught in the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children & Young Adults Program at Vermont College.
For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/norma-fo...
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 10, 2010
how can those boys think that they were having fun? they just "molested" her and they thought they were just having fun, just a game. those boys should've gotten in bigger trouble. why th she forgive them at the very end of the book? she should've have befriended Rollo at the end. why did she have to forgive him? maybe she pitied him, but still...
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July 15, 2021Not sure how to articulate my thoughts on this just yet. I remember Norma Fox Mazer’s name from my teen years, and sort her into a group of sort of gritty 70s writers like Robert Cormier & Paul Zindel. I wonder how I would have reacted had I read it as a teen. No one talked about sexual assault in any kind of open way that I recall, in rural SC in the 80s. As I remember it there were two modes of innuendo: pretty girls, nice girls, found murdered in the woods (NEVER go out alone! was the implication) some other part of the state, or sluts who asked for it and had it coming.
This book is pretty groundbreaking for its time in my opinion. Interesting to see 1-star reviews saying what happened to her wasn’t so bad, or that adult reactions were unrealistic. Mazer does a good job of explaining what the three thieves took from Valerie. And people so very often react in ways to save their own skins, or to shut out posdible pain or perceived threats. The principal’s responses rang true to me, especially in light of the letter he wrote to the superintendent and his lame inclusion of “helpful suggestions” from his wife. And God knows my parents froze me out fpr a lot less than Rollo did, so his dad’s reactions make sense to me, too.
For me, I would have liked to have learned more about Mark and Kara, but I understand that sometimes a sketch is just what a writer gives us and we have to draw our own conclusions. It’s a well-told and economical story that could have been three times as long but serves just as well in novella form. I’ll read it again.
This book is pretty groundbreaking for its time in my opinion. Interesting to see 1-star reviews saying what happened to her wasn’t so bad, or that adult reactions were unrealistic. Mazer does a good job of explaining what the three thieves took from Valerie. And people so very often react in ways to save their own skins, or to shut out posdible pain or perceived threats. The principal’s responses rang true to me, especially in light of the letter he wrote to the superintendent and his lame inclusion of “helpful suggestions” from his wife. And God knows my parents froze me out fpr a lot less than Rollo did, so his dad’s reactions make sense to me, too.
For me, I would have liked to have learned more about Mark and Kara, but I understand that sometimes a sketch is just what a writer gives us and we have to draw our own conclusions. It’s a well-told and economical story that could have been three times as long but serves just as well in novella form. I’ll read it again.
November 28, 2008
I remember reading this as an in-class book in ninth grade. It's about these three horrible teenage boys who decide one day at school to grope this girl who's kind of mousy. After the attack, the principal makes her identify them by bringing her into his office with all of them in there. After hearing that the only punishment they'll get is a three-week suspension from school, she walks out of the office saying, "Fuck you all." My ninth grade teacher told us all (my English class) that this was a "really naughty thing to say." (Of course, it was a male teacher making comments about how a fictional girl is reacting to a sexual attack to a roomful of guys, three of whom attacked her.) One of the guys' names is Rolland (whom I think his friends call "Rolo", like the candy), and the girl kind of get friendly in a tense way (but not romantically). She's an artist, a sculptor, kind of like that girl in the movie "She's All That". I remember that her mother died when she was a little girl because they were both sitting in a metal rocking chair when a lightning bolt hit the chair. Anyway, in the end the girl decides to pressure charges and go public with her attack because the school basically laughed off the attack as joke.
Really, it wasn't a horrible read for a school book, but the subject matter (a sexual attack and its reprucusions) is kind of hard to take (but not impossible).
Really, it wasn't a horrible read for a school book, but the subject matter (a sexual attack and its reprucusions) is kind of hard to take (but not impossible).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 3, 2015
Maybe I'm just too old for this book. Maybe I got too much used to violence in books. I don't know.
Sure, what the three boys did was wrong and shouldn't happen to any girl, but all the reactions were just unbelievably exaggerated, a father who doesn't talk to his son for days, the principal of the school who wants to get rid of the girl to avoid the scandal, the girl having absurd nightmares....It's just too much. What happened? They grabbed her and put their hands all over her body, they didn't hurt her physically, the gossip was worse than the deed. And just imagine for a minute three girls assaulting a boy and putting their hands all over him...
The intention is too obvious, but I doubt any 16-year-old boy would read this book without being forced to in school.
Sure, what the three boys did was wrong and shouldn't happen to any girl, but all the reactions were just unbelievably exaggerated, a father who doesn't talk to his son for days, the principal of the school who wants to get rid of the girl to avoid the scandal, the girl having absurd nightmares....It's just too much. What happened? They grabbed her and put their hands all over her body, they didn't hurt her physically, the gossip was worse than the deed. And just imagine for a minute three girls assaulting a boy and putting their hands all over him...
The intention is too obvious, but I doubt any 16-year-old boy would read this book without being forced to in school.
February 27, 2009
I read this book in high school and it was pretty interesting. I remember being able to read in quickly and I never got bored with it. It is a young adult book so I probably wouldn't like it as much as I did back then.
July 30, 2011
i really like how she explained the mixed emotions good enough that young kids can understand.
June 10, 2017
Rollo, Candy and Brig are three popular boys at school; Valerie is new and a loner. They have a minor conflict that Brig blows out of proportion. Then, when Brig's girlfriend dumps him, he is angry and looking to hurt someone. So, the three of them catch Valerie alone in the hall and sexually assault her. The rest of the novel details how each character deals with what actually happened.
February 8, 2019
Ein Buch, dass ein ernstes und wichtiges Thema etwas flach und gefühlslos beschreibt. Ein solches Buch, sollte ein flaues Gefühl im Magen hinterlassen und zun Nachdenken anregen.. Stattdessen werde ich es jetzt ins Regal zurück stellen, und meine Wohnung aufräumen, ohne weiter darüber nachzudenken.. Schade!!
June 14, 2022
I had a lot of emotions reading this book. I’m so happy to have discovered Mazer’s books.
May 1, 2015
Picture Rollo, a follower – a guy who is new in school and finds a couple of friends and lets them decide what to do – even when he knows it’s wrong.
One of the things they like to do it intimidate girls, but when on girl refuses to be – then one of them – the leader – gets angry, especially when her girl friend breaks up with him.
It’s Christmas assembly, and they notice that girl who refused to be intimidated – an arts young woman – leave the auditorium quietly; they follow her up to the art room, and the leader tells Rollo and her other friend, “Let’s get her!”
They rough her up and the leader even tried to get on her back, but she chases them off – Rollo begins wondering just why he followed along.
Of course word gets out, they’re suspended, and rumors begin – Rollo only wants to apologize to the girl he and his friends attacked. What happens? You’ll have to jump into this one of a kind tale to find out!
This is a tender story that could happen to almost anyone – guy or girl – who finds it too easy just to follow someone else.
One of the things they like to do it intimidate girls, but when on girl refuses to be – then one of them – the leader – gets angry, especially when her girl friend breaks up with him.
It’s Christmas assembly, and they notice that girl who refused to be intimidated – an arts young woman – leave the auditorium quietly; they follow her up to the art room, and the leader tells Rollo and her other friend, “Let’s get her!”
They rough her up and the leader even tried to get on her back, but she chases them off – Rollo begins wondering just why he followed along.
Of course word gets out, they’re suspended, and rumors begin – Rollo only wants to apologize to the girl he and his friends attacked. What happens? You’ll have to jump into this one of a kind tale to find out!
This is a tender story that could happen to almost anyone – guy or girl – who finds it too easy just to follow someone else.
February 7, 2017
I found this novel conflicting. I read it in 7th grade, which given it's subject matter, might have been a mistake. This novel deals with sexual assault on a young girl, but the interesting aspect is that it doesn't give her point of view, but rather reads from the perpetrator's perspective. We're expected to believe that Rollo (yes, that's his name) is generally the best out of all his friends in terms of mannerism; his friends have also been assaulting other girls in a similar manner and they claim it is not a big issue, but Rollo thinks otherwise. The novel does tell a great story of looks being deceiving in terms of Rollo, and also deals with the subject of the victim's rights tactfully. The one flaw that remains is in the language. Maybe it's a little dated now reading it in retrospect, but the teens were either too fluffy or fell into the John Greene trope.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 27, 2016
This book is well...OK at best. The writing style was difficult to get through despite the short length and seemed disproportionately juvenile in comparison to the subject matter. While an important topic, much better and less outdated books have been constructed on sexual assault. Valerie was the only redeeming character in my mind. The dialogue and characters of the other teenagers was very forced and unrealistic. In summary, this one is not worth the read.
January 15, 2016
The novel is beautifully written and realistically examines sexual harassment and how it can be so hard to get anyone to believe you and almost impossible to get a school to do anything about it.
This shows just how cruel boys can treat girls and how hard it is for girls to be believed when they try and tell what happened.
This shows just how cruel boys can treat girls and how hard it is for girls to be believed when they try and tell what happened.
January 14, 2011
Three boys from good, upper middle class families attack a girl (fellow student) at school. The story primarily focuses on Valerie and Rollo and how they are changed by the experience. Very realistic, thought provoking and a page turner. Contains some rough language.
September 26, 2016
It Was A Very Good Book , and I Liked It.
May 23, 2017
Norma Fox Mazer wrote this book with many different narrative points of views. She wrote from the victim's point of view, and one of the bully's point of view. This helped to make the Mazer's message more convincing which I believe to be that not everyone has the same opinion on certain situations and therefore do not understand to which point bullying is considered inappropriate.
Furthermore, Mazer also used a hook at the end of the book by not telling the reader why Rollo, one of the bullies, is saying goodbye to the other bully. This could make the reader think about the book and not just close the book and forget about it.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed the plot and the style of writing that Mazer uses.
Furthermore, Mazer also used a hook at the end of the book by not telling the reader why Rollo, one of the bullies, is saying goodbye to the other bully. This could make the reader think about the book and not just close the book and forget about it.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed the plot and the style of writing that Mazer uses.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews