They Threw Us Away

I can’t remember where I heard about this book. I think I saw it on a blog but it sounded creepy so I wasn’t interested. However I picked it up browsing the j fiction shelves, and actually found it quite intriguing- mostly because I want to figure out what’s going on! Yes, it is creepy. I think this author mainly writes grade school horror novels, and this definitely fits that. The pictures only add to the disturbing, unsettled atmosphere- the teddies look awkward and uneasy to me. I wouldn’t want to cuddle any one of them. And yet that’s what they are desperate for. The love of a child. Which -somehow- makes them fall into something called ‘Forever Sleep.’ All the teddies yearn for this, but our protagonist Buddy suddenly wakes up in the middle of a garbage dump. He’s supposed to be on a store shelf, waiting for a child to find him! He looks around and finds other teddy bears, still in their packaging. He frees them, and together they set out to find the end of the dump, get back to the store, and encounter the children they’re meant to be with. But on the way bigger questions arise- why were they in the dump in the first place? (And I have this nagging question about what the heck is the Forever Sleep, and why would they want that. Wouldn’t they prefer to remain sentient and walking around?)

Anyhow, the teddies have to navigate unimaginable horrors to reach their goal. There are vicious birds and huge, dangerous machinery in the dump. Once they escape all that, there’s the dangers of walking on the roads- vehicles at high speed, mud and rain, men collecting litter who see them as such. They encounter other teddies who have become cynical or seriously damaged or even turned violent and maniacal, from living out in the dangers of the world. I liked that the teddies had such distinctive personalities- it made the story more engaging. Buddy is trying hard to be a good leader, but sometimes gets tired of the responsibility, and upset at arguments with the others. Teddies aren’t supposed to argue. (They often have little back-and-forth conversations between themselves about what makes a good teddy, what’s the ‘Teddy Duty’, are they following it, are they getting corrupted by the world, etc). One is spunky and brave, another skeptical and morose (reminded me of Eeyore), a third rather ditzy and excessively cheerful (kind of dismaying since this is following a serious head injury she had, and I know for a fact that probably isn’t how someone with TBI behaves). This book definitely isn’t for sensitive kids (or adults either!)- there is gore, there are dismemberments, they come across dead bodies, one teddy gets so distressed she self-injures, one almost sacrifices himself to save the others, and so on. They do at one point make it back to a toy store, but it isn’t what they expected, and their run-in with a human there only raises more questions and fear. And at the very end, having seemingly reached their ultimate goal of being in the arms of a child delighted to own them, the reader can tell something ominous is in their future. All is not right here.

Oh, and there’s also a Voice that speaks to Buddy- who it is also remains unanswered. He thinks at first it is their original creator, then he thinks it is a proto-teddy, but the reader keeps unhappily thinking it is some kind of god character. Also, one of the teddies tells fable-like stories about the history of this specific teddy brand (Furrington) but oddly, he doesn’t seem to know the ending until he tells it. So who is inspiring the telling? I kept mulling over that one . . .

Borrowed from the public library. Completed on 8/12/24.