The edge of limits by S. J. Gervay

At seventeen, Sam Knox is still reeling from the death of his beloved father-figure Grandpa, when he has to spend eight days on a gruelling school endurance camp, spurred on by an unsympathetic teacher and an attractive female instructor. Confronting extreme weathers and hazardous terrain, he and his class-mates’ stamina and character are tested as they hike, belay and abseil, canoe and cave through rain, hail and heat, carrying all their equipment and food rations.

Billed as a teen must-read about consent and control, the novel also included Sam’s flashbacks to a violent gang rape he witnessed at a rave party and regretted not reporting.

Gervay’s plot moves quickly, with plenty of out-doors action and youthful horse-play, but I felt the characters were somewhat stereotyped; we have Fat George, whiny Spano, sex-obsessed Andrew, golden boy Jones and Watts the bully. Sam continually misses his girlfriend Laura, professing to love her, but wishing she was up for sex. Jones apparently had a girlfriend but treated her with disdain, and the others constantly fantasise about sex and rough-house amongst themselves, jostling for power. Some grow and redeem themselves over the course of the novel, others don’t, and the writing style of ‘telling’ rather than ‘showing’ limits the opportunity for the reader to draw their own conclusions.

While I understand that Gervay wanted to call out this unsavoury behaviour, I don’t feel that the book achieves this, as neither Sam or any of his mates seriously challenge his peers’ toxic thoughts and actions. Gervay also hopes that young women will use the novel as a catalyst to call out bad behaviour, but again, I’m not sure how much the all-male survival-camp plot and constant jokes about girls and sex would appeal to this audience. The book is however, an easy, fast-paced read that includes many of the extreme activities that readers might aspire to, and a cast of distinct, sometimes amusing characters.

A well-intentioned effort from an award-winning author on a much-needed topic, that provides a full-on adventure, if not a vehicle to encourage critical conversation.

Themes: Adventure, Outdoors, Survival, Rape, Morals.

Margaret Crohn