Posts Categorized: Book Reviews

Beverly, Right Here: A Crooked Little House

I met Beverly Tapinsky in Raymie Nightingale, the first book of the “Los Rancheros” series that also includes Louisiana’s Way Home and Beverly, Right Here. In Raymie Nightingale the three girls meet each other while taking their first baton lesson from an alcoholic woman living in the past. Raymie is taking lessons so that she can win a talent contest and get her picture in the paper to get the attention of her dentist father who has just run away with his dental hygienist. Louisiana is taking lessons so she can win the prize money and be able to buy food. Beverly Tapinsky’s reason for the baton twirling lessons is much darker. She wants to be in the talent contest so she can sabotage it. Each girl has a reason to be angry, but Beverly is the angriest.

Beverly, Right Here begins soon after Beverly’s one-eyed dog, Buddy, dies. She loved this dog deeply. Buddy’s death is her emotional last straw. Beverly’s father walked away from the family when she was little. Her mother is an alcoholic and emotionally abusive. The death of Buddy pushes her over the edge, and she runs away from home. As she puts it, “I’m not running away, just leaving.” She’s fifteen years old, confused, and angry.

Beverly doesn’t like people. She doesn’t trust them. The two people who should love her most—her father and mother—have abandoned her physically and abused her emotionally. Then, the one who did love her—her dog Buddy—leaves her by dying. Additionally, one of her two friends, Louisiana, just up and disappeared one night (read my review of Louisiana’s Way Home). What is she supposed to make of a world like this?

After leaving home and making her way to a nearby city on the coast, Beverly has no plans and nowhere to go. Fortunately, she has author Kate DiCamillo looking out for her because the world is harsh and no place for a lone 15-year-old girl to be living on the streets. Beverly happens to walk past a trailer park where a lonely old lady is out watering her flowers. “Haddy!” says the old woman in her north Floridian accent. Presumably she means “Howdy.” Beverly is not impressed. The first thing that comes to her mind is a poem, “. . . in a crooked little house by a crooked little sea.” It turns out that that owner of the crooked little house is lonely and in need of someone to drive her to her Thursday night bingo matches at the local VFW. Beverly doesn’t have a driver’s license, but she can drive. She’s not great company, but she suits Iola just fine. For her services Beverly gets room (a bed on a screened porch) and board (tuna melts).

Soon, other odd ball characters step into her life. There’s lonely Mr. Denby, the owner of Mr. Seas, a seafood restaurant that serves only lunch. He’s separated from his wife and three daughters but works hard to support them. In Beverly he sees his daughters. He hires Beverly to bus tables. In spite of paying her under the table, he’s a good man. There’s Freddie, a waitress for Mr. Denby. She has big dreams that she will never reach. Freddie has a loser of a boyfriend, Jerome, who tries to rob the restaurant with a wiffle bat. Then there is Elmer, an intelligent but jaded boy with severe acne and a beautiful heart.

It doesn’t take long for these oddball but beautiful people to help Beverly understand that hope grows alongside despair. This happens in subtle ways. For instance, this encounter with the grey-haired cook at Mr. Seas. After giving Beverly some very good advice, Doris says, “You have to watch out for yourself, because no one else will.”

“But aren’t you watching out for me right now?” Beverly answers.

Indeed, Doris is looking out for Beverly just like these other strangers whose lives have suddenly merged with hers. By the end of the book Beverly isn’t focusing on the tragedy of what’s not in her life, but on the joy of what is there.

In each book of the “Los Rancheros” series, the protagonist (Raymie, then Louisiana, then Beverly) is two years older. Beverly, being the oldest at the time of her book, has the darkest anger of the three. DiCamillo deals with this anger by throwing in other people who are struggling through their own difficult lives, but doing so with compassion and the faith that what’s good in the world is just as real and even more important than what is not. Beverly’s life is still complicated at the end of the book, but her ability to see and accept the good in the people around her gives us hope that she is going to be able to build a full life.

These books by Tory Anderson are now available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback format:

     

Posted By: toryanderOct, 25Comments: No CommentsCategories:

Louisiana’s Way Home: A Day of Reckoning

I first met Louisiana Elefante in the book Raymie Nightingale. Louisiana may have just been a side character, but she is one to draw attention. From the moment she faints during baton lessons to when I learn she has been taught how to steal tuna fish from the grocery store by her grandma so that they can have something to eat, she was unforgettable. The last scene in which I saw her in Raymie Nightingale she is riding in a runaway grocery cart down a hill toward a lake (and she can’t swim). She looks at where she is going and says, “Oh, My!” Then she looks back at her two friends who are chasing the cart and says politely, “Goodbye.” It’s no wonder that when I saw that Kate DiCamillo wrote a book just about Louisiana I didn’t hesitate to pick it up.

If you met Louisiana in real life you would quickly ascertain that she is a unique personality. She would tell you the story of her parents—trapeze artists—who died in a shipwreck. She can’t be called a liar or fanciful for her family history as it’s the story her grandmother told her. She accepts it without question. She will tell you that she suffers from a “curse of sundering.” This is a curse where you are destined to constantly be separated from those you love. This isn’t tragical romanticizing on her part. She sincerely believes it. When a stranger sees her behind the wheel of a car and asks her if she should be driving (she is just 12 years old, after all), she answers:

“Yes, I should be driving. The situation is dire!”

You may think she is being overly dramatic speaking this way, but if your grandma had abducted you from your home in the middle of the night saying, “The day of reckoning has come!” and who is now lying in the back seat of the car incapacitated with a toothache and you are driving a car for the first time through a strange town in a neighboring state looking for a dentist, you might speak the same way. No, Louisiana is an unusual girl, with an unusual history, in unusual circumstances that makes her different from anyone else you might ever meet. Because of her unusualness, she is a girl I desperately want to meet.

The question is, do I really want to meet a girl like Louisiana Elefante, or is it just a nice idea. There are many in the book who are not pleased to meet a girl like her. The dentist’s receptionist is only concerned about running a strict schedule and not helping a desperately sick grandma. The motel owner is focused only on payment and not on human beings who have been caught in a very difficult situation. These are truly unlikable, even mean, people who don’t realize how miserable they are. But with these unhappy people we meet human beings who give the rest of us hope. One of these is the greasy gas station owner who seems unresponsive to Louisiana’s chatter, but seems to read her soul. Seeing her eyeing the packages of peanuts on a rack on the counter he tells her, “You can have as many as you want. No charge.” When she takes sixteen packages (Louisiana is legitimately half starved at all times) the man just smiles. She meets other people even kinder.

The tragedy of Louisiana’s life caught me off-guard. When she, while tears fall quietly from her eyes onto the couch in the living room of near strangers, says, “I don’t know who I am,” only the reader fully understands the depth of her words. To experience the revelation that Louisiana, a fictional character experiences and feel the feelings she feels, is a testimony to the power of fiction. No TED talk would come close to getting me to understand what it’s like to be in Louisiana’s position. I love these powerful literary moments.

Kate DiCamillo is a proponent of hope for the human race. Louisiana’s Way Home written by many others would most likely be dark and depressing. If not dark and depressing, it would be silly and saccharine. DiCamillo, in my opinion, walks the fine line between the two—a fine line that follows the goodness that really can be found in the hearts of human beings. Along with the miserably mean people Louisiana encounters (people who are probably more like us than we want to believe) she lands among the beautiful people of our race who make me proud to be a human being. These are people who I want to be like—something DiCamillo helps me believe can really be.

Louisiana’s Way Home brings to life the kind of girl who I would find annoying in real life, but manages to show me the rare beauty behind the annoyance. It makes me feel special because I feel like I am one of the chosen few who become a friend of Louisiana and that makes me unique, like she is.

These books by Tory Anderson are now available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback format:

     

Posted By: toryanderSep, 15Comments: No CommentsCategories:

The Westing Game: A Book Well Played

I heard of The Westing Game in an indirect reference while reading an essay about the movie Knives Out. I ran across the book on Audible and thought I would give it a try. I went in not knowing anything about the story. I didn’t know it was published back in 1978. I didn’t know it was a Young Adult book let alone that it was a Newberry winner. The beginning of the book caught me off guard. It was quite different from most of the other young adult books I had been reading. It took time and perseverance on my part, but by the end I was a fan. In fact, I think I’m going to read this book again.

I didn’t know it was a murder mystery for several chapters, so my brain was in the wrong gear. I was confused by what seemed to me to be a fragmented beginning. I was also confused by the narrative style. It was third person. Yes, third person is as common as yellow sunflowers, but this was the extreme third person that jumps point of view across sixteen characters. My head was spinning trying to keep up with who was who. It’s not that the book is poorly written. It’s not. It’s just that, as already mentioned, I went in completely unprepared. It says a lot for the author, Ellen Raskin, that in spite of my unprepared cluelessness, I caught up with the book and was all in by the end.

As far as murder mysteries go, this is one with heart. While the plot of the book does orbit the sun (the “murder”) Raskin interests us more in the planets (the 16 characters) doing the orbiting than in the murder itself. I found every one of the characters dislikable at first. I was about to turn my nose up at the book and move on to something else more compatible with my sensibilities. Just in time, though, one of the characters momentarily flashed an empathetic side. I decided to stick around to see what this was about. Then it happened again with another character. The characters don’t suddenly become likable, but little-by-little, they become fully human and worth my attention and care.  Raskin shows her skill in the slow unwrapping of this delightful gift set of characters.

The mystery itself is intriguing . . . and fun. Little things happen that tease your curiosity like how the piece of jewelry the young girl drops the night of the murder ends up on the person of the murdered man the next day in his coffin. The man in the coffin is Mr. Westing. He’s quite an enigma. The day after his murder he invites the sixteen of the residents of the nearby apartment complex to his funeral where, in his will, the rules of the Westing Game are laid out. Apparently one of them is the murderer. There is a lot of money at stake for the team that figures out the mystery. I’m lousy at figuring out murder mysteries. Even in books and movies where the detective explains the whole thing, detail by detail, to the suspects who have been gathered in the library, I still don’t get it. I’m pitiful. I think I got it in The Westing Game, but whether I did or not, I loved the book.

This book is not what I consider a hard-core mystery. Perhaps that’s why I like it so much. I love stories. In this book I get the stories of sixteen characters—sixteen characters, who in one way or another, become better people by playing The Westing Game.

These books by Tory Anderson are now available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback format:

     

Posted By: toryanderAug, 4Comments: No CommentsCategories:

Things Not Seen: Seeing Invisibility a Whole New Way

I was young when I saw the original Invisible Man. It was in black and white and a little frightening as the process that made the man invisible led him into criminal insanity. Then there was the Invisible Woman. It was funny (and titillating) since the invisible woman was running around naked, though unseen. Andrew Clements does something quite different in his book Things Not Seen. Instead of writing a crime thriller or a comedy, he tries to bring invisibility into the real world—and does it with a fair amount of success.

Clements hooked my interest when I quickly realized he was taking the question of invisibility seriously. This wouldn’t be some Marvel style superpower or a prurient teenage fantasy. This book asks all the questions that would really be asked if you woke up one morning and found that you could no longer be seen by anyone in the world, not even by yourself in the mirror. This, of course, is impossible in our world. To actually see it happen would push man peoples’ psyches to the edge.

Clements did a great job with the “discovery” scene. This scene is important as it sets the tone for the entire book. It is this scene that sets it apart from any of the lesser things it could have been. Bobby’s difficulty, and then his parents’, at accepting his invisibility is well done. It’s kept just this side of freak out. His father (a physicist) staring from across the kitchen to his mother’s stammering “Knock it off, Bobby” as she sits next to him at the breakfast table she tries to process the impossible, rings true. Clements controlled the moment very well. It was satisfying to read.

Next Clements had to set the boundaries on how invisibility works in the world he is creating—pretty much the world we live in now. It turns out that anything that goes into his body disappears and stays invisible when it comes out (digestive waste), but anything that stays on the outside of his body stays visible—ergo, clothes. This provided a writing challenge and opportunity for Clements as the setting is Chicago in March. Bobby—when he tires of being cooped up in his home—can’t just go running around in the freezing temperatures of Chicago naked. Eventually it warms up enough that Bobby does spend a lot of time outdoors naked but unseen. The cold weather also allows Bobby the opportunities to get out completely bundled up and wearing sun glasses. Ironically, this allows his invisibility to be “hidden.” Clements is clever in dealing with Bobby’s maturity (he’s fifteen, but quite intelligent) in relation to running around naked. He see’s himself as a Greek Spartan, suffering the cold in the nude, with courage and strength. I liked that take.

Clements gracefully stayed away from the teenage boy fantasies of invisibilities of pulling pranks and sneaking into girl’s dressing rooms. The quality and seriousness of the writing naturally keeps from coming anywhere close to those areas. The real questions and problems of Bobby’s invisibility don’t allow time for fantasy. The closest it comes to fantasy (which isn’t fantasy at all) is when Bobby befriends a blind girl who eventually finds out about his invisibility. The questions of blindness and invisibility bring up thoughtful questions, by the way. Her parents also find out about his invisibility. The girl’s mom is always in the room when her blind daughter’s naked, invisible boyfriend comes to visit. It’s serious and humorous at the same time.

The book takes the direction of Bobby’s parents keeping his invisibility from the world so that he won’t be taken away and studied and possibly used by science or government. This makes sense. Of course, it also makes sense in this world that you can’t have the child of a civically involved couple just disappear without there being questions. I was happy when I detected the beginnings of this trouble in the book. The thrilling development of this trouble rang true and was fun to read. In the end I found the book a pleasure to read. Of course, there was difficulty in explaining the source of the invisibility, but it was handled well enough. I was satisfied to see a “superpower” treated seriously in my reality, instead of in a typical superhero fantasy. It was a boon to see it done as well as Clements did it. Bobby is no superhero, but he becomes quite the human being through his experience. A graceful, enlightened human being is a superhero to me.

These books by Tory Anderson are now available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback format:

     

Posted By: toryanderMay, 4Comments: No CommentsCategories:

A Monster Like Me: (Or Like Me)

I’m a sucker for titles and A Monster Like Me gets my attention. It did its job and I took the bait. By the title, this book could be anything: a fantasy, a thriller, a murder mystery, and more. It actually took me a while to figure out what the book was—certainly longer than it should have. I was pleasantly pleased when my brain finally pulled it all together.

At the beginning I was lost in Sophie’s monster fantasy world. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Was it just a real-world girl’s imagination? Or were we going to see  actual monsters in the story which would change the genre from realistic fiction to magical realism? Maybe this was going to be a psychological mind bender where the entire story is just in an unbalanced person’s imagination. I wasn’t sure I trusted that the author knew what she was doing. I have to admit that I don’t trust authors who are new to me. By the end I was feeling a lot better about things.

I’ve always had a weak spot for the “child against the world” trope. A Monster Like Me by Wendy S. Swore, fits this trope well. Sophie is in a battle against her mother’s “monster” boyfriend, against the “monsters” at her school, and (in a twist) against the monster in herself. Perhaps you can understand some of my confusion about this book. Sophie unreasonably really believes in these monsters, so much so that I had to question either her sanity or the author’s ability to create a story that will hold together.

I really enjoyed the author’s use of Sophie’s Big Book of Monsters. Sophie takes that book with her wherever she goes for a quick reference against the possible monsters she meets around town and at school. Each chapter begins with a reading from this Monster book and is some of the best writing in the novel. The monster book is also used well as a metaphor for Sophie’s struggle with her greatest fear—not other monsters, but the monster within herself.

The “fight against the world” theme kept me reading as well as the questions I had about how the author was going to pull off the ending. I really thought it was going to flop. It seemed like the monsters were going to have to be real as in bad-breath-bite-your-arm-off real or Sophie was going to have to say, “Just kidding” and just drop the whole monster obsession. Either of those two endings would have been a dud for me.

I’m not sure if the author pranked me or if I was just incredibly slow (probably the latter), but when I saw what was really going on (right before my eyes the entire book), I was touched. Sophie’s self-image issues were real and serious. She’s on the brink of a real psychosis. When I finally caught on, I was able to really enjoy the book. Clearly A Monster Like Me is about all who grapple with self-loathing. It touches upon Hawthorne’s themes of “the guilty see guilt everywhere” or, in this case, a monster sees monsters everywhere. The book delves into a difficult topic but does it so creatively that I didn’t catch on very quickly. This is a good thing in my opinion. It kept the book getting preachy. I’m sure others will catch on more quickly, but for me the depth of Sophie’s self-image issue came across as genuine. In the end Sophie touched my life.

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These books by Tory Anderson are now available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback format:

     

Posted By: toryanderMar, 15Comments: No CommentsCategories:

Bastion: See You in Hell

I’m a very picky reader. One of my greatest fears is starting a book that I won’t like. I’m not sure why that’s such a fear. I mean, if I don’t like the book, I can just stop reading it, right? But to me, it’s something like picking the wrong person for a friend. It’s personal. Having said that, you would think I didn’t like Bastion by Phil Tucker. On the contrary, I found it quite addicting. This is what troubles me.

I generally don’t read addicting books. The only reason I read Bastion was because I got addicted before I realized addiction was happening. Does this make Phil Tucker insidious? Perhaps. The way I see it is that addicting books (i.e. “I couldn’t put it down” kind of books) usually aren’t great books. Moby Dick and Portrait of a Lady are great books, but they are definitely not addicting. You pick them up with trepidation and put them down with relief. I love those books. Bastion is not a “great” book, but it addicted me, and I’m not sorry.

Bastion is a fantasy set in a world unique to any other fantasy world I have ever been in. The city of Bastion is cylindrical (I was never quite clear on that) and sits on the edge of Hell. Mind you, this is not Christian Hell, but still, Hell. It’s a fascinating place where Great Souls are reborn again and again on their cycle of innocence to power as they fight to close the pit of Hell and open the portal to their home world. The plot is full of hope and despair, comedy and intrigue, friendship and enemies.

Aside from a plotline that motivates reading late into the night, it was the theme of humility and friendship that attracted me. The book has hints of the usual superhero theme at first. You know, where a weak person finds his power, rises up, and puts evil in its place. This may happen yet, but Tucker surprised me in how he’s willing to take his time. The protagonist, Scorio, suffers greatly. The “great soul” in him is evident, but is only seen in his striving, not in his kicking butt. The truth is, he gets his own butt kicked a lot. His journey to self-awareness and responsibility is a long one, but worth the time.

The friendship theme is what puts the book over the top. Scorio is a butt-kicked superhero who needs people. It’s endearing to see a strong character like Scorio, who is one of the most determined characters I have ever read, depending on others as he does. Fortunately for him, he finds people who can be depended upon. These other characters are well-defined—warm, funny, a little scary. Being a part of this camaraderie was one of the addictive elements of this book.

The book was a little abusive ending on the cliffhanger that it did, but it did its job in that I’ll probably be getting addicted to the next in the series whenever it gets published. Tucker has his work cut out for him. He’s started a uniquely fascinating world with an intriguing plotline and added endearing but vulnerable characters. Can he keep it up? I hope so.

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These books by Tory Anderson are now available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback format:

     

Posted By: toryanderNov, 21Comments: No CommentsCategories:

Counting By 7s: Two Stories in One

Counting by 7s, by Holly Goldberg Sloan, is easy to love. This is because Willow Chance is such a unique and endearing character. It’s her quirky voice that ensnares you.

I’m, right now, someone that other people might find interesting to observe. Why? Well, first of all, I’m speaking Vietnamese, which is not my native tongue. I really like that expression because, in general, I think people don’t give this contracting muscle credit for how much it does. So, thank you, Tongue.

Willow is a color you’ve never seen, a new flavor that tickles the tongue, a sound that echoes pleasantly in your ears. She’s a character you become addicted to.

The plotline sees her losing her parents and then building a new family out of unlikely people she finds in the unfrequented rooms of her life. While the plotline is compelling, it’s Willow herself who keeps me reading. Put her in any plot and I will read just to be near her. I find her that addictive as a human being.

Ironically, her addictiveness leads to what I see as a weakness in the book. Just as I, a living, breathing reader, become addicted to Willow, a fellow character of Willow’s does the same—Dell Duke. Dell Duke is a school counselor to whom Willow is sent after being accused of cheating on a standardized test. She finished the hour long test in 17 minutes and got every answer correct. Willow is an unacknowledged genius, you see. Dell Duke is the opposite of Willow in every way. Just as Willow is a born genius, Dell is a born loser. Fortunately, Holly Goldberg Sloan, the author, applies some genius of her own and describes Dell’s loser-ness with such skill and enthusiasm that his story is as compelling as Willow’s.

It would seem that two strong characters in a book would be better than one, but Sloan confuses me with the narrative. When the book begins we are hearing Willow’s genius, but innocent, voice telling us her story in first person. In my mind it’s established that this will be her story and hers alone. I want to hear her voice on every page.  However, when Dell enters the picture, the narrative switches to third person. Just as first person is the perfect narrative voice for Willow, third person is the perfect narrative voice for Del. The problem is that I begin to hear two separate stories being told at the same time. It’s almost like Sloan couldn’t decide between the two stories.

With both stories being so compelling I can see why Sloan might become conflicted as to which to focus on. I’m not sure Sloan could write both stories nearly as effectively using only first person or third person. I have to assume that’s why she chose to use both narrative voices at once. I don’t remember ever reading a book with two narrative voices before. Perhaps I am just old, but I found this a bit jarring. But even more, I found myself feeling sad when I saw Dell’s story fading away in comparison with Willow’s. I found myself yelling in my head that Del, after all the work Sloan put into him, needed the respect of an ending also instead of a comparative footnote.

Having said this, if you haven’t read Counting by 7s, there is a good chance you will enjoy it. Willow’s quirky (but flawed) genius; her ability to bring out better lives in other, diverse people; and her ability to heal and find joy are entertaining and inspiring. And Dell? Well, he’s no genius, but he’s a man who’s willing to take the higher path when the opportunity arises.

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These books by Tory Anderson are now available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback format:

     

Posted By: toryanderOct, 20Comments: No CommentsCategories:

Out of My Mind: Empathy or Guilt?

It would be difficult not to like Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper. Draper does what most good literary authors do—that is, she sucks you into a life that is not your own and allows you to see your world from a unique perspective. What the author does that is unique and noteworthy is put you into the body of Melody, an eleven-year-old girl born with Cerebral Palsy. In addition to Melody’s lack of control over her limbs, she cannot speak. What ups the ante in this story is that in addition to being an object of pity or disdain, depending on your nature, Melody is a girl of great mental acuity, a gift that no one discovers until she is nearly eleven years old. Even after it is discovered, many resent her gift rather than celebrate it. This conflict certainly is the makings for a good read.

What kept me turning pages was Melody’s voice. From the first sentence of chapter 1 you begin to love her. She begins by saying, “Words. I’m surrounded by thousands. Maybe millions. . . Words have always swirled around me like snowflakes; each one delicate and different; each one melting untouched in my hands.” For a girl who can’t speak, she is a master of words.

As Melody tells you her story you will grow to love her. You will want what she wants, love who she loves, and be hurt by those who hurt her. You will live in a body over which you have little control and understand your dependence on others. You will feel the extreme frustration of being as smart or smarter than those around you while they treat you as an infant. As most reviewers point out, Out of My Mind is one powerful exercise for developing empathy. It is also just a really good read whether you are looking for empathy or not.

Spoiler Alert
The story does leave me with questions. Melody is surrounded by average human beings just like you and me. These are human beings who cannot comprehend Melody’s intelligence or the difficulties she lives with. Some are unapologetically ignorant and mean. Many are nice but make very little effort to listen to Melody. One makes a sincere effort to make room for Melody but ends up failing due to her inability to integrate Melody’s slow moving, slow talking albeit brilliant world into her natural fast-moving fast-talking world.

In the end, when Melody repudiates the team for what they did, I am with her all the way. Like most readers I’m thinking, “You go, girl!” As she wheels out of the room it’s a personal triumph for her. Since we are identifying with her, it is our triumph, too.

Ironically, I realize the disgust I feel for the team is disgust I feel for myself. The other kids and the teacher represent me. I certainly have no friends like Melody in my life. I’m old enough to know that just because I read this book and gained a little understanding about a person like Melody, I haven’t become a dramatically different person. This isn’t because I’m small minded and mean; it’s because I haven’t had the opportunity to learn how to be friends with someone like Melody. Because these kids hurt Melody I want to judge them and wag my finger in their face. The truth is it would take a lot of time to learn how to adapt to be friends with Melody. Anyone who takes that time would be rewarded with a bright, unique friend who would enrich her life. These kids have a lot to learn, like we, the readers. The book helps grow empathy for someone like Melody but has little for those who would try to understand how to make Melody a part of their lives.

I enjoyed every moment reading Out of My Mind. Melody is charming. Her story is rich and engaging. I do gain insightful understanding of what it’s like to live like Melody. The ending is strong and positive for Melody, and I, like everyone else, cheer. It’s just that, in my second thoughts, I wonder about my haste to disdain the other kids. We are all in need of empathy, just for different reasons.

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These books by Tory Anderson are now available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback format:

     

Posted By: toryanderAug, 16Comments: No CommentsCategories:

Delta Wedding: A Long Afternoon on a Summer Day

I was introduced to Eudora Welty in college. We studied her short stories in a 20th Century American Literature class. I was duly impressed by her powerful use of language and the Southern flavor she gives life. Welty is not an easy comfort read. She looks closely at how people (we) live their lives and, although she isn’t averse to showing our graces, she certainly has no qualms about showing our absurdities. That’s the part that might make a reader uncomfortable.

Delta Wedding is about . . . well, that’s just the thing; it’s rather hard to say what it is about. A nine-year-old Laura, recently left motherless, arrives via the Yellow Dog at her cousins’ house for the purpose of attending 17-year-old cousin Dabney Fairchild’s wedding. As the book title suggests, this takes place in the Mississippi Delta. More precisely it takes place in the 1920s on a plantation near the town named after the family: Fairchild, Mississippi.

The entire story takes place in one week. During that week very little happens. I think this is the point Welty captures life much the way it is. The large Fairchild family, along with some extended family, is preparing for a wedding that no one but the bride is happy about. Throughout the week Welty takes us from character to character, lets us hear that character’s inner monologue, lets us see the family and the world as that character sees it. Welty skillfully shows us how the family clings together while at the same time each family member feels unique and even lonely. Welty seems to have uncanny insight into family relationships. You might never see your family the same after reading Delta Wedding.

With its minimal plotline you may have guessed that the book moves very slowly. This is not a weakness any more than a long, slow summer afternoon is a weakness. It just is. Some people know how to live a hot afternoon in late summer. They find a hammock in the shade of two trees and take a nap. They sip lemonade on the porch. They skip rocks and then strip to their underwear and go for a swim in the pond. In the evening shadows they walk through the garden to pick tired flowers—still colorful—and smell them. During all this they reminisce previous summers, ponder questions, and wonder about decisions made. This is life. This is what Welty gives you in Delta Wedding.

If you are attracted to things Southern: thick green vegetation, the smell of honeysuckle; fireflies; bayous; slow, drawling speech; character names like Battle, Lady Clair, Bluid; trains named The Yellow Dog; and the drama of family life, you might find Delta Wedding good company.

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These books by Tory Anderson are now available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback format:

     

Posted By: toryanderJul, 21Comments: No CommentsCategories:

The Mighty Miss Malone—No Room for Malice

For two years, now, I have been teaching Christopher Paul Curtis’s Bud, not Buddy to my writing students. One of the things we discuss is how Curtis takes an orphaned ten-year-old boy living during the depression and makes such a charming, heartwarming story out of it. Along Bud’s adventurous journey in Bud not Buddy he has an encounter with a girl in a Hooverville located in the woods just outside Flint, Michigan. Her name is Deza Malone. I think most readers who read Bud not Buddy are curious about this girl. I certainly was and so picked up her book, The Mighty Miss Malone. Although the books have their similarities—young black children in search of family during the depression—they are as different as snow and rain.

Bud’s story is focused on his quest to find his father. Curtis skillfully uses Bud’s charming and naïve way of viewing the world to soften the harsh realities surrounding Bud. In Bud, not Buddy the fact that he is black and living in the depression aren’t major issues. The focus is on Bud and his thoughts and his charming and naive responses to the difficulties of his journey. Deza’s story also involves a family themed quest, but this time Curtis explores the themes of race and poverty. While showing thoughtful discretion, The Mighty Miss Malone shows the harshness of the times much more clearly. Deza’s story is less charm and more reality.

While Bud’s story starts at an emotional low (however charmingly), Deza’s story starts higher up the emotional scale. Instead of being locked into a vampire bat infested shed in the middle of the night, Deza is dealing with problems like getting her first A- on an essay. She’s devastated. Unlike Bud, who is an orphan, Deza has a home with a mother, father, and brother who love her. It sounds like she has it easy, right? I’ve been around long enough to know that happiness often leads to difficulty. I was anxious about this happiness from the beginning because I knew from Bud, not Buddy that Deza is going to end up living in a blanket hut in a Hooverville with her family broken. As I expected, getting to this point in the book was emotionally difficult for me. It’s hard to watch a family break apart.

The thing is, I have faith in Christopher Paul Curtis as an author and as a human being. He’s not the kind of author to hit me in the emotional gut and leave me lying on the street heaving in the gutter. He’s actually quite amazing. At the most difficult parts of his books, he is able to summon strength and hope. He does this without resorting to sentimentality. Let me just say that getting to the ‘hard’ part of the Mighty Miss Malone is well worth the struggle.

The Mighty Miss Malone does explore race and poverty in the Great Depression, but even more importantly it explores the heart of a human being and a family’s hopeful struggle. Like Curtis’s other books, The Mighty Miss Malone makes me feel proud to be a human being despite our ugly side. He makes me feel proud to be a family man. In short, his book makes me happy.

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Posted By: toryanderMar, 13Comments: No CommentsCategories:

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