You know how sometimes you read a novel and a character is so real to you that he stays with you for days after you finish the book? Well, Edgar is that character. In fact, one of the wonderful things about this novel is that all of the characters are so real - not all likeable - but completely described. Edgar is a young Native American boy who is an orphan. For the first 15 years of his life, we see how he survives on his own surrounded by a cast of characters. Despite having a mail truck roll on to his head and several other near-death experiences, he manages to keep going and keep moving. He moves from his home with his alcoholic mother to the hospital after his accident. From there he's sent to a school where he lives with a distant relative and then to a foster family. The writing is fabulous. (He also wrote The Lonely Polygamist!!) I love the way he describes his characters. Here is how he describes Nelson, another student in his school who torments Edgar.
"For one thing, Nelson was old; though he was in the sixth grade, Nelson was fifteen - an adult, any way you cut it. His real distinguishing feature , however, was his size; he weighted easily over 300 pounds and was as wide as a love seat........ His head was half of a watermelon sitting on his shoulders, his fingers as thick and blunted as saltshakers, his feet so wide there wasn't a pair of shoes that would fit him; even in the midst of the coldest winter months, in ice and snow and mud, he wore flip-flops. And Nelson was merry. He had the look of a person prepared and willing to laugh at anything, and when he smiled his eyes would disappear into those creases of his face and his cheekbones would stand out like those on a drugstore Santa Clause."
Can't you just visualize him? Love this kind of writing. But the best part of the book is the ending. And I never saw it coming. So often, the ending to a book is disappointing or predictable. Not this book. Highly recommend it, and I'm sending it your way, BT. -June
2 comments:
Waited and waited until I had to buy this book on Kindle and I am so glad I did because I loved it, as June knew I would. Such fine development, intricate weaving of stories, rich prose....everything that a marvelous piece of writing needs/wants/should have
Waited and waited until I had to buy this book on Kindle and I am so glad I did because I loved it, as June knew I would. Such fine development, intricate weaving of stories, rich prose....everything that a marvelous piece of writing needs/wants/should have
Post a Comment