Mini-Reviews: Historical Fiction

Historical fiction is kind of my catchall phrase for this post -- the only book that is traditional historical fiction is A Thunderous Whisper. However, all the books take place in different decades than this one, so it's working for me. 

A Thunderous Whisper by Christina Diaz Gonzalez

A Thunderous Whisper is the story of a friendless young girl who becomes wrapped up in the violence of the Spanish Civil War. As she participates in covert operations, she makes friends and realizes that she is not as alone as she had believed.

This book was interesting for me to read because I knew nothing about the Spanish Civil War. It's always nice to read a book in a new setting and a new era. I also loved the message of this book -- it is a message about the power of the individual and the fact that you can find love if you are willing to search for it. My quibble with A Thunderous Whisper is with the writing -- it seemed a little juvenile to me. Granted, this is a middle grade book, but it still left me with somewhat disappointed expectations. I do feel that the writing improves as the book progresses, and the final pages tie the entire story together very nicely.

3 stars

Warnings: Violence

The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls

I had high expectations for The Silver Star. The Glass Castle was a phenomenal work and I was very excited to see what Jeannette Walls produced. However, The Silver Star, despite perfectly acceptable writing, was lackluster for me. It read like a machine rather than a story -- I could see the gears working in the author's head to fit everything together. In the end, it did fit together, but the finished project was somewhat bland and beige. Also, it seemed like a watered-down version of Walls' own life story. Her fact so far seems to be more compelling than her fiction.

2.5 stars

Warnings: Non-explicit sensuality, violence, language

The Secret Sense of Wildflower by Susan Gabriel

The Secret Sense of Wildflower is about Louisa May, also known as Wildflower, a girl struggling to cope with her father's tragic death, her mother's absent affection, and the unwanted attention of the town wild hooligan. Oddly enough, this story shares several similarities with The Silver Star (the Southern setting, the pervy creeper situations, the girls with refrigerator mothers), but I found it somewhat more compelling. Gabriel's writing is affecting and tight, and I found Wildflower's voice to be powerful and distinct. The story itself did not completely engage me, but the book was well written.

3.5 stars

Warnings: Violence, sexual assault, some language

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

It's official. I'm a Rainbow Rowell fangirl. And if you are, too, you can see my clever pun on her next title (Fangirl. Pleeeease, NetGalley?). I just looked on her website to see if her Rainbow is her real name, and couldn't find that information, but I did find this fantastic quote: "She has two sons, and if God hears her prayers, they will grow up just as nerdy and true-hearted as the protagonists of her books." Amen, Rainbow. Amen. 

Anyway, Eleanor & Park is about a girl and a boy who sit next to each other on the bus. They are both sort of misfits -- the girl because she is overweight, has flaming red hair, and is extremely poor and the boy because he is one of the only Asian people in his school (but he actually is really well-accepted). At first they coexist because they are forced to, but gradually, through sharing of comic books and mix tapes and hand-holding, they fall in love. And the biggest barrier winds up not being the their outcast status, but Eleanor's horrifically hellish home life. 

I don't know how I can convey to you the adorable-ness of Eleanor & Park's relationship. Rainbow Rowell can, which is why I'm one of her Fangirls. (Ha, ha, ha). But seriously -- this book is able to induce pillow-screaming in equal measures of disgust and swoon. I won't lie -- I wasn't expecting how dark the book can be at times, especially as Rowell's first novel, Attachments, was pretty light-hearted, but it is beautifully balanced by the sweetness of the love story. I realize at this point this "mini-review" is not so "mini," so I'll wrap it up and just tell you to read it. 

4.5 stars

Warnings: Really a LOT of language. More than I usually tolerate before I put a book down. So be warned about that. Also innuendos. 

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Title: The Glass Castle
Author: Jeannette Walls
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Scribner, 2006
Source: Personal copy
Read for: Alex Awards Challenge

Jeannette's parents were intelligent, resourceful, and restless. From her earliest memories, she recalls moving from place to place in whichever rickety incarnation of the family car was still running. However, as Jeannette and her siblings grow older, the enchantment of their adventurous life begins to fade as they realize how poor -- and hungry -- they are. They spend the next few years trying to pull each other out of their parents' lifestyle.

All I knew of The Glass Castle before picking it up was that it was about a family that chose to be homeless. That in and of itself probably wouldn't have been enough to pique my interest; however, every single person I knew of that had read the book absolutely raved about it. I'm grateful for the rave reviews, because without them I never would have experienced this riveting book.

Walls' personal experience in and of itself is fascinating. Her existence of moving from shack to shack in the desert, eventually ending up in a molding, festering structure in West Virginia with no heat is an interesting story on its own. However, the real stars in The Glass Castle are the fascinating members of Jeannette Walls' family. Each person was captivating, intelligent, creative and unique, including her flawed parents. Despite my frustration with them throughout most of the book, it was impossible to hate them. Jeannette's mother was certainly a selfish woman, hating to go to work despite her teaching credentials (and a shortage of teachers in the areas in which she lived) because she felt that it stifled her creativity and because she was tired of taking care of others instead of people taking care of her. (I wanted to shake her and say, 'Hello woman, you had children and there are responsibilities associated with that'). I was unbelieving when she stashed food away while her children went hungry. However, at the same time, she was clearly creative and intelligent.

Jeannette's father was my favorite character in the book, despite the fact that he was the root of most of the family's troubles. Clearly an intelligent man with interesting ideas and a deep love for his children, he was unable to hold down a job or stay long in one place due to his rampant alcoholism, which he attempted to beat multiple times unsuccessfully. The pathos of his continued query to his children, "Has your dad ever let you down?" was heartbreaking, because it was so clear that he had, but it was also so clear that he hated and blamed himself for it. I'm not condoning the hell he put his family through, but I felt that Walls was outstanding at keeping his character well-rounded and objective, despite the ordeals she suffered through his mistakes.

The other aspect of The Glass Castle that truly impressed me was the ability of the Walls children (with one tragic exception) to overcome their difficult childhoods and succeed at their goals in life. Despite the fact that Jeannette didn't have enough food to eat or enough clothing to keep her warm, she worked and saved to send her sister to New York City with the hopes that her sister could take her away someday. She had her goal of becoming a journalist, and she was absolutely tenacious in achieving it.

While Walls is amazingly objective in her character descriptions despite the obvious emotional baggage that comes with them, she leaves nothing to the imagination in her detailed descriptions of her family's hunger, poverty, and decrepit living conditions. Her excellent writing depicts the horrible situation without accusation toward her parents but with no holds barred.

The Glass Castle is at times a difficult read, but the overall message is one of transcending difficulties. Despite the obvious privations of the Walls children's existence, their parents' choices are complex and objectively depicted. I think any reader will gain something from reading The Glass Castle.

4.5 stars

Warnings: Language, mild sensuality, violence, disturbing themes