Like Nelson (p. 1413), Porte (When Aunt Lucy Rode a Mule, p. 1138, etc.) considers a 12-year-old's response to a parent's death from AIDS. But Porte is more innovative. Isabelle Ramos, the primary narrator, is a friend of the protagonist's grandmother. ``What I couldn't see, or didn't hear, I worked hard to imagine....I'm a writer. I don't have to think twice when it comes to a story.'' Isabelle knows Gillian and her mom in New York, and knows that Gillian's dad died of addictions brought back from Vietnam. When Mommie reacts to her diagnosis by fleeing with Gillian to a homeless existence in Florida, the narrator fills in what she learns from Gillian's grandmother with astute conjectures that at once vividly convey a sense of reality and sufficiently distance the reader from a cruelly painful experience. Later, Mommie returns to Grandma's care, and Gillian is sent to her father's brother's family near Oak Ridge, Tenn. Now, in letters to Isabelle, Gillian confides her problems in adjusting to good-hearted but unfamiliar, white-skinned relatives. After Mommie's death, confidences that might have hurt Grandma's feelings continue as Gillian desponds, rebels, and finally makes peace with herself and her new family. Meanwhile, Grandma confronts her own grief by working toward a PhD and ultimately finds work near Gillian's new home. Porte enlivens a refreshingly clichÇ-free narrative with the folktales this multiracial family of strong women tell each other, carefully sourcing each one. Unusually clear-eyed; beautifully written. (Fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-531-06869-2
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Certain to provoke controversy and difficult to see as a book for children, who could easily miss the painful point.
After Hitler appoints Bruno’s father commandant of Auschwitz, Bruno (nine) is unhappy with his new surroundings compared to the luxury of his home in Berlin.
The literal-minded Bruno, with amazingly little political and social awareness, never gains comprehension of the prisoners (all in “striped pajamas”) or the malignant nature of the death camp. He overcomes loneliness and isolation only when he discovers another boy, Shmuel, on the other side of the camp’s fence. For months, the two meet, becoming secret best friends even though they can never play together. Although Bruno’s family corrects him, he childishly calls the camp “Out-With” and the Fuhrer “Fury.” As a literary device, it could be said to be credibly rooted in Bruno’s consistent, guileless characterization, though it’s difficult to believe in reality. The tragic story’s point of view is unique: the corrosive effect of brutality on Nazi family life as seen through the eyes of a naïf. Some will believe that the fable form, in which the illogical may serve the objective of moral instruction, succeeds in Boyne’s narrative; others will believe it was the wrong choice.
Certain to provoke controversy and difficult to see as a book for children, who could easily miss the painful point. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-75106-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: David Fickling/Random
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a...
Han’s leisurely paced, somewhat somber narrative revisits several beach-house summers in flashback through the eyes of now 15-year-old Isabel, known to all as Belly.
Belly measures her growing self by these summers and by her lifelong relationship with the older boys, her brother and her mother’s best friend’s two sons. Belly’s dawning awareness of her sexuality and that of the boys is a strong theme, as is the sense of summer as a separate and reflective time and place: Readers get glimpses of kisses on the beach, her best friend’s flirtations during one summer’s visit, a first date. In the background the two mothers renew their friendship each year, and Lauren, Belly’s mother, provides support for her friend—if not, unfortunately, for the children—in Susannah’s losing battle with breast cancer. Besides the mostly off-stage issue of a parent’s severe illness there’s not much here to challenge most readers—driving, beer-drinking, divorce, a moment of surprise at the mothers smoking medicinal pot together.
The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a diversion. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: May 5, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4169-6823-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf