The Rules of Survival

"The Rules of Survival" (2006), is a novel by Nancy Werlin. It depicts the story of a boy and his two siblings trying to survive vicious emotional and physical abuse. This book was a National Book Award finalist.

Plot summary

The book starts out with an awkward introduction when Matthew Gradie Walsh is writing a letter to his younger sister Emmy to tell her the story of their mother's vicious abuse.

The real story starts with Matthew and his other younger sister, Callie. Callie is eleven and Matthew is 13. Emmy is a baby. Callie and Matthew go to the Cumberland Farms store to get some air conditioning, for there is a heat wave in Boston where they live. They see Murdoch for the first time, protecting some kid from being openly abused. Matthew likes Murdoch, and they want to track him down to be his friend.

Meanwhile, the first act of abuse that is shown first hand in the book comes when Matthew is viciously hit with Portuguese Seafood Paella after Nikki finds the address of Murdoch that Callie found off the Internet. Nikki starts dating Murdoch, but eventually they break up. Nikki gets enraged and tries to blame it on Murdoch. She wants to call the Social Services and report Murdoch for abuse. Murdoch gets a restraining order against Nikki for constantly following and stalking him. Nikki is enraged, and sends boys to beat Murdoch instead of her doing the dirty work. Nikki and the boys eventually end up in jail.

After she gets out of jail, she recklessly drives in search of Murdoch and instead finds pleasure in tormenting Julie, a friend of Murdoch. Julie loses the use of her legs, and Nikki gets in jail again. Ben and Aunt Bobbie use this opportunity to gain joint custody of Matthew, Callie, and Emmy. Matthew lives with Aunt Bobbie, while Callie and Emmy live with Ben in Arlington. Things go fine for a while until Nikki kidnaps Emmy, and gets Emmy drunk, even though she is 8 or so. Matthew gets a call from Emmy, and Emmy tells her location. Matthew rescues Emmy, only to find Nikki there too. Murdoch comes just when Matt is about to kick Nikki to death. Murdoch advises her to run away and never come back.

But that is not the end of Nikki. Letters keep coming. Some normal, like advice for school and such, and some crazy like "I will kill you" or "It was Murdoch's fault". The book ends with Murdoch telling Matt that he was also abused when he was younger.

Characters

Matthew: The main protagonist of this story. Brother of Callie and Emmy, son of Nikki and Ben

Callie: Matthew's sister. Later on known for being very solemn and melancholy. Also the middle child, daughter of Nikki and Ben.

Emmy: The youngest sibling in the family. She was a baby when she was first introduced. Daughter of Nikki and an unknown father.

Nikki: The abusive mother of Matthew, Callie, and Emmy. She often tries to have "fun" with her children. She has a job at the hospital at the time and often gets fired. She is very emotional and at times psyhcotic.

Murdoch: A man the children met in the Cumberland Farms store. He is one of the people that learn about the children's mother early in the book.

Aunt Bobbie: The sister of Nikki and aunt of the children. Gets joint custody of the children with Ben, the father of the children except Emmy, and is often the target of Nikki's rude remarks.

Ben: The former husband of Nikki and father of Callie and Matthew. He gets joint custody of the kids with Aunt Bobbie.

Julie: A friend of Murdoch's. Often loses reality in her spy vs. spy fantasy. That triggers her to follow Nikki and when Nikki drives recklessly, she loses the use of her legs.

References