''Fade'' is a

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

young adult A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

novel written by

Robert Cormier Robert Edmund Cormier (January 17, 1925 – November 2, 2000) was an American author and journalist, known for his deeply pessimistic novels, many of which were written for young adults. Recurring themes include abuse, mental illness, violence, ...

Plot

In the summer of 1938, the young Paul Moreaux, who lives in a town outside of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

called Monument, discovers he can "fade", becoming

invisible Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be ''invisible'' (literally, "not visible"). The phenomenon is studied by physics and perceptual psychology. Since objects can be seen by light in ...

. His family has had this ability generation after generation; it is somehow passed down from uncle to nephew. Bewildered and then thrilled with the possibilities of invisibility, Paul experiments with his "gift". He sees things that he should not witness. His power soon overloads him, shows him shocking secrets, pushes him over the edge, and drives him toward some chilling and horrible acts for which there is no forgiveness, no forgetting, and no turning back. Paul discovers how cruel, evil, and disgusting the world can be, and how the ability to fade becomes a nightmare.

Reception

''Fade''s scenes of murder and incest have made it a frequent target of censors; the novel appears on the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000 at number 65.

Film adaptation

In January 2009, Darko Entertainment acquired the rights to the novel. The company will adapt and produce a film adaptation. The novel will be adapted by Adam Prince and the film will be produced by Richard Kelly, Sean McKittrick, Ted Hamm and Ilene Staple.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fade (Novel) 1988 American novels 1988 fantasy novels Censored books Novels by Robert Cormier American young adult novels American fantasy novels Fiction about invisibility Fiction set in 1938 Incest in fiction