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| Name : | Jenny C. |
My Reviews
A long book, but enthralling. Very interesting characters and an improbable, yet plausible, chain of events. The reader feels sympathy for Theo and roots for his eventual success in reaching adulthood and straightening out his life.
Interesting topic (right to die/assisted suicide), but the story was too far-fetched. Example: The scene where Lou and Nate try to roll Will in his wheelchair across the muddy unpaved parking area at the racetrack. At least one of the three should have had the brains to suggest dropping off/pick up Will and Nate at the entrance. There was no reason to drag the wheelchair through the mud. The author's attempt to generate pathos for the trials and tribulations of the disabled devolved to bathos. Ditto when the author expects the reader to believe that a rich business entrepreneur like Will (or his parents) would not have gotten voice activated capability for Will's computer long before Lou showed up. Will did not lose his intelligence, eyesight or voice in the accident. There was no reason for him to give up his business career in this age of internet/teleconferences/video conferences except if he was too depressed to care. Somehow this was not explained. The whole topic of depression and Will's choice to die was not adequately addressed. I felt like I read a piece of propaganda for the pro "right to die" side. I am personally undecided on the issue and this story did nothing to convince me.
This book brought back memories of my own small town middle class childhood days. Back then a child had more independence, more leeway to explore, and for better or worst, more opportunities to experience the world on their own. Krueger captured the typical childhood experience of that era: walking or biking around town on your own, trying to sleep on a hot summer night with the window open, eating ice cream at the Woolsworth's food counter. While the plot events that occurred to Frank and Jake are not typical, the childhood world they inhabit is authentic. Overall, an engaging murder mystery told from a child's perspective in the era before parents began to micromanage their kids' lives.
Eye opening account based on the real Charleston, SC Grimke sisters who forged lives true to their ideals in the pre-Civil War era. Sarah and Angelina are very inspiring as they move from their psychologically oppressive lives as privileged "Southern belles" to becoming socially shunned as leading abolitionists and women's rights crusaders of their time. Their story is paralleled and intertwined with that of two of their family's slaves: the sisters Handful and Sky. While the story of the slave sisters is only loosely tied to real historical figures, the author uses real events and documented social practices and norms of the time to give authenticity to the account of their lives as Charleston house slaves. So much of women's historical contributions has gone unremarked that this novel is a welcome spotlight on two of America's earliest female civil rights leaders.
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