The Winter People is a tale told not just from multiple perspectives but also across time.
The story of Sara and her daughter Gertie takes place in 1908 while the story of Ruthie, her mom, and her sister, and newly widowed Katherine take place in the present. As the sections move back and forth in time they are on a collision course.
This is a ghost story and the story of a mother's love and loss. It is all at once creepy, mysterious, beautiful and heartbreaking.
It is also the story how sadness and grief can lead to desperate actions the repercussions of which can be long lasting even to the point of outliving us.
(Finished April 26, 2015)
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant
From time to time I read a book where I find myself truly loving a character and knowing I would be friends with her/him if they jumped out of the book and into my world. Addie Baum is such a character.
The story of a Jewish family that comes to the US and settles in Boston is told through the words of old Addie telling the tale to her granddaughter.
Addie is braver and more amazing than she seems to know but there can be no doubt as you read her story. Her mother has nothing but disdain for her, her father is so out of reach he seems like a ghost in the story, her sister Betty has escaped by moving out, and Celia is a tragic figure.
The city of Boston is like a character in Addie's story and it is a lovely bit of writing that make it so. You will feel the city breathe along with the human characters.
Addie grows from scared young girl who just wants to go to school to become a confident and wise woman.
Take a trip into Addie's past, it is painful, beautiful, and powerful.
(Finished April 19, 2015)
The story of a Jewish family that comes to the US and settles in Boston is told through the words of old Addie telling the tale to her granddaughter.
Addie is braver and more amazing than she seems to know but there can be no doubt as you read her story. Her mother has nothing but disdain for her, her father is so out of reach he seems like a ghost in the story, her sister Betty has escaped by moving out, and Celia is a tragic figure.
The city of Boston is like a character in Addie's story and it is a lovely bit of writing that make it so. You will feel the city breathe along with the human characters.
Addie grows from scared young girl who just wants to go to school to become a confident and wise woman.
Take a trip into Addie's past, it is painful, beautiful, and powerful.
(Finished April 19, 2015)
The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black
I as already familiar with Holly from reading The Spiderwick Chronicles with my son but after reading The Coldest Girl in Coldtown I was sold on Holly Black as an author I enjoyed reading for my enjoyment too.
The Darkest Part of the Forest was really fun to read. It is a fairy tale with fairies, haunted woods and all the fantasy folks that typically in habit it, a mysterious casket with a horned boy sleeping in it, and a town full of humans. However this fairy tale isn't just a story parents tell their kids to get them to behave, it is all true!!!
Hazel and Ben are teenage siblings that live in Fairfield, a community where not just the children believe in enchanted woods, the adults do too. Hazel is a warrior and Ben has a powerful music that soothes the savage beasts.
With all this fantasy world as its backdrop The Darkest Part of the Forest is also a coming of age teen love story.
Visit the forest, you won't be sorry.
(Finished April 1, 2015)
The Darkest Part of the Forest was really fun to read. It is a fairy tale with fairies, haunted woods and all the fantasy folks that typically in habit it, a mysterious casket with a horned boy sleeping in it, and a town full of humans. However this fairy tale isn't just a story parents tell their kids to get them to behave, it is all true!!!
Hazel and Ben are teenage siblings that live in Fairfield, a community where not just the children believe in enchanted woods, the adults do too. Hazel is a warrior and Ben has a powerful music that soothes the savage beasts.
With all this fantasy world as its backdrop The Darkest Part of the Forest is also a coming of age teen love story.
Visit the forest, you won't be sorry.
(Finished April 1, 2015)
Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood before Marriage by Kathryn Edin
I read this for my Work, Women, and Family class.
It is an interesting idea to explore, who do poor women have babies and often never get married.
Some of the women will make you angry, some will make you sad, but mostly they will make you rethink your preconceived ideas about this group. Many of the women find themselves looked down upon while their children's fathers get pats on the back for having all these children.
While many of them are very young when they begin having children not all of them are teen moms. Quite a few are in their 20's, 30's, and even 40's.
A really insightful though not pretty look at the topic.
(Finished March 20, 2015)
It is an interesting idea to explore, who do poor women have babies and often never get married.
Some of the women will make you angry, some will make you sad, but mostly they will make you rethink your preconceived ideas about this group. Many of the women find themselves looked down upon while their children's fathers get pats on the back for having all these children.
While many of them are very young when they begin having children not all of them are teen moms. Quite a few are in their 20's, 30's, and even 40's.
A really insightful though not pretty look at the topic.
(Finished March 20, 2015)
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