The family conflicts of LaFaye’s turbulent debut, Year of the Sawdust Man (1998), head toward resolution in this bustling, lightweight, far-fetched sequel. In the two years since her mother, Heirah Rae took off to find something better than her claustrophobic small-town life, Nissa has neither forgiven her, nor warmed to her father’s new wife, Lara. Then Heirah Rae resurfaces, with an invitation to join her in Chicago. After an internal struggle and with her father’s very reluctant consent, Nissa goes. LaFaye fills the Depression-era story with events—parties, pregnancies, puberty (along with a standard-issue onset-of-menses scene, with all its attending panic), Nissa’s first taste of city life and her first exposure to live theater, heart-to-heart conversations, tense confrontations, and fence- mending; all of the characters, from a coterie of vicious gossips to Nissa’s idealized parents—one wise, earthy, and quiet, the other flamboyant, outrageous, and artistically gifted—larger than life. For such lean times, money for food and travel flows smoothly, while people talk about pregnancy in chatty, modern, informal terms. The patchy ending is more of a collapsed epilogue, or a separately written short story, in which Nissa returns to Louisiana to organize a public library and, finding her town’s racial divide too deep to span, ends up building two. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-689-82610-9
Page Count: 244
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In an age of missing children, Kehret (The Blizzard Disaster, 1998, etc.) spins an exciting tale about a deranged mother and the child—not hers’she stalks. Ginger has long had the feeling that somebody is watching her; during her 13th birthday party in a restaurant, she sees a strange woman staring at her, who also appears to write down the license plate number when Ginger’s family drives away. Questions nag at Ginger but she brushes them off, facing other, more ordinary problems. A meddlesome parent, Mrs. Vaughn, is trying to get Mr. Wren, Ginger’s basketball coach, fired; wanting more playing time for her own daughter, Mrs. Vaughn has concocted a list of complaints, claiming that Mr. Wren doesn’t teach basic skills. Ginger, an aspiring sports announcer, has videotaped many of the practices and has the evidence to prove Mrs. Vaughn wrong, but is afraid—as is most of the community—of getting on the woman’s wrong side. The stalking of Ginger, her near-kidnapping, and her attempt to live honorably by coming forward to save Mr. Wren converge in a dramatic climax. While the story reads like a thriller, the character development and moral dilemmas add depth and substance. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-525-46153-1
Page Count: 154
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999
A breezy middle-school romance from Frank (Will You Be My Brussels Sprout?, 1996, etc.). Not only does the level of domestic tension rise rapidly after her mother’s Uncle Max, recovering from a stroke, moves into the cramped Cooper apartment, but Joy suddenly finds herself on the outs with her best friend Maple, who has become joined at the hip to amateur musician Wade. Joy makes a new connection, too, due to some surreptitious matchmaking by Uncle Max: enter a friendly, eminently promising older schoolmate, also named Max. While this budding relationship is growing into full-scale delirium, Joy returns the favor by encouraging Uncle Max and his garrulous neighbor, Rose, to spend time together; by the end, Uncle Max follows Rose to her winter quarters in Florida, and offers to trade his roomy apartment for theirs. Cast with likable, well-meaning characters, driven more by cheers than tears, this tidily resolved New York City tale will please Frank’s fans, and send newcomers to her earlier books. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7894-2538-6
Page Count: 277
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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