Synopsis: Lucky Trimble is a curious, independent child who is in the guardianship of her father’s first wife, Brigitte. Brigitte is French and came to California to be her temporary guardian, and Lucky is afraid she will move back to France and Lucky will have to go to an orphanage. The story follows Lucky as she strives to find her Higher Power (Lucky eavesdrops on AA meetings and other twelve-step programs at her job of cleaning up at Hard Pan’s Found Object Wind Chime Musem), even though she’s not really sure what that is, exactly. Miles, her five-year-old friend, and Lincoln, a classmate and future president (if you ask his mother), come along for some of her adventures.
Rating: Very good
Opinion: This book won the Newbery, so I expected a great book. I was a tad bit disappointed for this reason: I put the book down about half-way through to read something else, and it took me a long time to pick it back up again. I wasn’t even sure I was going to finish it. To me, that says that the book wasn’t gripping. However, it was a very well-written book, even if it wasn’t a thrilling page-turner. Lucky is so accurately drawn as a child. She hears a few things, sees Brigitte’s passport in a suitcase, and jumps to the conclusion that Brigitte is leaving her to move back to France. With her world tumbling down around her, Lucky comes up with a grand plan to keep Brigitte with her: she plans to run away, which will make Brigitte realize that she wants to keep Lucky. That thinking – that logic – is spot-on for a child. I remember thinking similar things as a child, and I wasn’t even an orphan, like Lucky is.
Now, to weigh in on the Great Scrotum Debate, oh joy! Having read the book from cover to cover, I really think that there is more controversy than there needs to be. See, on the first page of the book is the word scrotum. Not a word you hear in everyday conversation, I’ll grant you, but Lucky overhears this word and wonders what it means. It’s not even talking about a man’s scrotum – it’s a dog’s. It comes up again at the end of the book when Lucky asks Brigitte what it means, and she explains it in very straightforward terms. And that’s it. It’s not the central theme of the book, nor does it go into raunchy terms inappropriate for the book’s readership. This is essentially a book about a child who needs to be loved and to be taken care of, and it’s a shame that a single word overshadows what is good about this book.
Synopsis: Kiley, Lydia, and Esme are three very different girls who end up being nannies (surprise!) and friends. Kiley is seventeen and on her way to win the latest reality show, Platinum Nanny, the winner of which gets the job of nanny to the children of Platinum, a washed-up rock star. Lydia has just returned from eight years in the Amazon with her do-gooder parents to nanny her nephew and niece. Esme stumbles on a nanny job with her parents’ rich employers because she speaks Spanish fluently; they have just adopted two Spanish orphans. They all feel like a fish out of water in Los Angeles, which draws them together. They further bond when they help Esme out of trouble connected to Hispanic gangs she is peripherally involved with. The ending obviously leaves room for further plot and character development in sequel.
Synopsis: Wives and Daughters
Synopsis: Annabel Greene is a teen model who seems to have everything, if you believe the tv commercials. In reality, she is shunned at school because of an incident that happened the summer prior to the narrative, which is only alluded to in the first part of the book. Her family is occupied with her older sister’s eating disorder, and Annabel’s only solace is her budding relationship with school outcast Owen Armstrong.
Because I enjoyed Prep so much, I expected that this book would be just as good. I am sure you are thrilled to learn that it was. Hannah is 14 when the book starts, and is trying to cope with her parents’ separation. Hannah’s father has anger issues and when her mother finally stands up for herself, they are all kicked out of the house. Her sister, Allison, and her mother stay with nearby relatives, and Hannah is sent to stay with her aunt, Elizabeth. Rather than being angry at her father for making life hell, she is angry at her mother for not “following the rules”, which do not include standing up for oneself. From there, the story follows Hannah through high school, college, and after. It is poignant to see how all of her relationships are affected by her father’s influence on the family and the years of submitting to his anger. The narrative, in which the book is heavy, is closely personal with Hannah. The reader feels her stubbornness, her quirks, her imperfections as if they were one’s own. This is what I admire so much about Sittenfeld’s writing – her characters feel and think and speak so vividly that they seem like familiar friends. They are so real. Hannah is far from perfect and wise, but there is something appealing about her that has the reader cheering her from the sidelines. The writing is engaging and just so good. If Prep was like a rich stew, this is like the best apple pie you’ve ever had. This is an absolutely wonderful book. Drop everything (even your knitting) and go read it!
The thing that attracted me to this book, frankly, was the cover. Isn’t it nice? From its appearance, I thought that it would be a chick lit-type book, which I enjoy, but it really wasn’t. It’s a portrait of a girl’s experience in high school, told from her point of view. She spends all of her boarding school experience on the perimeter of things, afraid to get too close to her classmates. Although Lee was outgoing and loud and pretty much totally different back home in Indiana, she becomes very self-contained and closed off at boarding school. One of the main threads is her obsession with a boy named Cross, which does not come to fruition until their senior year. He becomes something more than a crush, but isn’t quite a boyfriend. This relationship is the most poignant part of the book, because, underneath the facade, Lee wants a full, open relationship with Cross, but doesn’t ask because she tells herself that Cross would reject her. We don’t know if he would, but if that were the case, he would not be good enough for her. Lee can’t see her own worth enough to stand up for herself in the relationship.
