The legacy of one man’s character on his survivors is explored in this Southern coming-of-age tale. Sixteen-year-old Paul has been sent, over mighty protests, to spend the summer on a distant relative’s farm as punishment for lying. But once there, he rapidly becomes involved with work and with the lives of the farm’s many quirky characters, all of whom are mourning deeply the death of a farmhand the year before—in the words of the beautiful Rebecca, his passing has left “a hole in the world.” The missing man was noted for his rock-solid integrity, and Paul quickly finds himself striving to emulate the dead man’s ways. The various members of the farm’s extended “family” are presented with sympathy and humor, each one honestly and openly sharing his or her grieving with Paul, from the ancient Granny Furr down to Einstein, the truck-chasing dog. But while the secondary characters are enjoyable and well defined, Paul is somewhat less so, morphing from resentful teenager to an honest-almost-to-a-fault and really rather boring young man in fairly short order. Furthermore, Hite (Stick and Whittle, 2000, etc.) frequently loses his ear for voice, resulting in a third-person narrative that distances the reader from the text. Sentences like, “Paul’s body rejoiced in the restorative repose of sleep the second he hit the bed,” and “ ‘That goes ditto for me,’ Paul gushed, expressing but a fragment of what he was feeling inside,” simply call attention to themselves rather than creating mood or character. With more diligent editing, this could have been a well-realized story about grieving and growing up—unfortunately, it isn’t. (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-439-09830-0
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK TO SCREEN
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